Pause is a national charity working to improve the lives of women who have had, or are at risk of having, more than one child removed from their care, and the services and systems that affect them and their families. Pause’s vision is of a society where women who experience the removal of a child are given the best possible support, so that it never happens more than once.
To achieve our vision – that all women should receive post-removal support – we deliver the Pause Programme: a trauma-informed model of support centred around an intensive, supportive and trusting relationship between a woman and their Pause Practitioner, who work together to build strong foundations for the future. As of September 2024, the Pause Programme is delivered by 20 Pause Practices covering 25 local authorities across England.
Since 2013, more than 1,800 women, who between them have had more than 5,800 children removed from their care, have completed the Pause Programme. Each of these women have experience of public law proceedings in the family courts – with most women experiencing multiple, recurrent proceedings.
During these proceedings, decisions are made as to whether a child should be removed from the care of their parents. Removing a child from their family is one of the most serious and costly interventions the state can make in family life, and it is critical that parents are able to fully understand and engage in these proceedings.
From our work with these women, we know of a small – but significant – number of women, whose experience of care proceedings is made more damaging and traumatic when they are not provided with adequate – or any – translation or interpretation to meet their needs. We know that:
We welcome the Public Services Committee’s inquiry into the current use of interpreting and translation services in courts: we know from the women that we support that the current provision is inconsistent, inaccessible, and often inadequate. Whilst our response focuses on the experiences of birth mothers in care proceedings, we know that these issues are also likely to affect other parties to proceedings. More needs to be done to ensure that everyone is provided with the support that they are entitled to.
We would be happy to support the inquiry with further written or oral evidence, if required.
From our work with birth mothers, we know of instances of care proceedings taking place without adequate – or any – interpreter and translation support, when the birth mother doesn’t speak English; and cases where accessibility support isn’t provided to women who are deaf or unable to read.
Without interpreting or translation services, birth mothers are unable to understand or engage with the court process, during which life-changing decisions are made as to whether a child should be removed from her care. Removing a child from their family is one of the most serious and costly interventions the state can make in family life, and it is critical that parents are able to fully understand and engage in these proceedings.
Further, birth mothers who have not been able to engage in proceedings report lasting suspicions and distrust of public services and professionals, which can have a damaging and long-lasting impact, leaving them feeling unwilling and unable to engage with other key services that they require.
Some key issues experienced by the women that Pause works with are:
Whilst it is the responsibility of the Court to arrange interpreters and translators to attend hearings, the initial barrier to accessing support is often at first point of contact with the local authority, who may fail to recognise the necessity of translation and interpreting services and therefore do not make the necessary request for this provision at Court.
Birth mothers have told us that social workers, who have likely worked with the birth mother prior to the proceedings being initiated, often fail to explore whether interpreting or translation support is required for care proceedings. This is particularly prominent among birth mothers who are able to speak some basic English and may have “managed” without interpreting and translation services prior to proceedings. Care proceedings require birth mothers to process large amounts of information, to work through complex assessments, and to share their views and experiences, which are often very difficult/traumatic. For women who can only speak basic English, whilst they may be able to understand some parts of what is communicated to them, they won’t be able to fully understand and engage with the information they are given, nor be able to effectively communicate their views or experiences.
Furthermore, many of the women that are supported by Pause tell us that they have been victim to professionals’ harmful narrative of “she understands more than you think she does” or “she can speak more English than she lets on” – judgements made from brief conversations with the women rather than working with the woman to explore the level of English they can understand. Women can experience these judgements of their understanding as racist and punitive, which can cause additional trauma to them.
When local authorities fail to explore the interpreting and translation services required for women to engage effectively in proceedings, it prevents birth mothers whose first language is not English from having the same opportunity to understand and engage with the Court that a native English speaker would have. It also risks life changing decisions being made about the placement of children – including permanent decisions in cases of adoption – without the full comprehension of the birth mother. One birth mother told us that because she was not provided with an explanation of the consequences of proceedings in her first language, she did not understand the impact of her “choices” and felt pressured to agree to decisions she did not understand.
A woman’s understanding of court proceedings may be further compounded if she is unable to read or has a learning disability. For these women, even when they are provided with materials translated into their first language, they may be unable to understand this. For women who cannot read, they must also be provided with support to read these translated materials. For women with certain learning disabilities, the information will need to be explained in accessible terms in their first language. For a number of women, this additional support is not provided, leaving them unable to understand the information shared with them, and consequently meaning they are unable to fully understand, engage with and participate in proceedings.
Translation work typically takes multiple days to be undertaken. Additionally, processes and appointments may take more time when translation or interpretation is required. For example, there can be lengthy waits for some interpreters and translators to have capacity to support new clients, and longer sessions may be required to ensure clarity of translation or information.
However, this additional time required for the necessary translation and interpreting services is rarely considered in timescales for care proceedings, which can result in birth parents being disadvantaged as they are unable to meet court deadlines. For example, during public law proceedings in the family court, birth parents must give seven days’ notice to the court if they wish to contest an adoption order. Often, as translated documents can take longer to procure, the paperwork is not served to the woman in the timescales necessary for her to exercise her rights.
Whilst it is critical for care proceedings to take place in a timely manner to ensure a child has the stability of a safe, secure home, by not recognising or adjusting court timescales to take into account the delays associated with translation or interpreting services, people who require these services are not being treated fairly during proceedings. As well as a having a significant impact on the birth mothers who have experienced this, this also could have a considerable impact on the child in their later life, if they discover that their birth mother was not given the means to understand or opportunity to oppose proceedings.
The use of the same interpreter/translator is vital for establishing trust and ensuring continuity of understanding. Relationships are at the heart of our evidence-based Pause model, and we know that a relationship between the woman and the professionals she is working with is key to helping the woman feel supported and informed. However, some birth mothers have experienced multiple interpreters or translators during a single set of proceedings. Without the continuity of a single interpreter/translator, women report that they struggle to engage in the process or don’t feel adequately represented.
For women whose first language is only spoken by a small community of people in the UK, there is frequently a lack of available interpreters or people able to undertake translation work. In these cases, there is a possibility that the translator is known to the woman in a personal capacity. We know from the women supported by Pause that birth mothers who have been subject to care proceedings for their children face a huge amount of stigma. As a result, many women choose to keep proceedings private; however, the opportunity to keep them private is jeopardised if the interpreter is an existing acquaintance of the woman, or a member of the same or extended community.
Further, some translators can be known to women in a professional capacity if they have previously provided support for a separate court case – such as during another care proceeding episode or during criminal court. The use of the same interpreter in these instances may contribute to re-traumatising the woman, which has a significant impact on how she copes with the subsequent proceedings.
Due to the lack of available interpreters and translating services for the required language, we also know of instances where family members or friends have instead been asked to translate for the birth mother. There are significant concerns with this – not only does it lead to family members and friends knowing confidential information about the birth mother, but it also can leave birth mothers vulnerable and at risk of coercive control, where birth mothers know they will be unable to participate in the court process without the assistance of their family member or friend.
Finally, we are aware of multiple instances where birth mothers that have required translation services during proceedings have reported instances of professionals using GoogleTranslate in place of hiring a translator. GoogleTranslate does not allow for complex information to be delivered with any nuance, and does not enable the effective, informed, two-way communication required during proceedings. As a result, birth mothers have failed to understand the detail of the information that they were given and felt unable to ask clarifying questions.
As a result of the barriers highlighted above, we know that a small but significant number of women are not being provided with adequate – or any – translation or interpretation to meet their needs during public law proceedings.
Removing a child from their family is one of the most serious and costly interventions the state can make in family life, and it is critical that parents are able to fully understand and engage in these proceedings. If they are unable to do so, life-changing decisions are made without the birth parents’ understanding and the Court may miss out on hearing from birth mothers about their views, experiences and reflections, which may impact the Court’s decision.
In addition, as a result of this experience, women can become more sceptical of services, as they view services as working against, rather than with, them. This is detrimental to future episodes of care proceedings – which we know that many women will experience due to being stuck in a cycle of pregnancies and removals – as women feel less able and less inclined to cooperate in the process based on previous experience of not understanding why the Court has made decisions to remove children, or not having their own needs met
Additionally, women’s scepticism can prevent them from engaging constructively with other services that they might require post-proceedings. Not only does this increase the likelihood of future removals as they cannot access the support that they need to sustain long-term change, but also leads to poor outcomes for women in areas such as mental and physical health and substance use.
To ensure interpreting and translation services provided in Courts meet the needs of those involved, Pause recommends the following:
30 September 2024