Nursery World - Asylum mothers getting a raw deal

Pregnant asylum seekers and their babies suffer bitter hardship in a support system that falls short of meeting their most basic needs for adequate food and safe shelter, according to a report from the Maternity Alliance. Mothers in Exile: maternity experiences of asylum seekers in England found that pregnant women felt marginalised in a system designed for single men. They were often in a state of desperate loneliness and grief and some were treated badly by the maternity services that should be helping them.

Mothers in Exile: maternity experiences of asylum seekers in England found that pregnant women felt marginalised in a system designed for single men. They were often in a state of desperate loneliness and grief and some were treated badly by the maternity services that should be helping them.

The report said, 'Women seeking asylum may arrive in England having lost everything they value: children, partner, parents, extended family, community, home, job, health, money, possessions, culture.

'For those asylum seekers who are pregnant and who give birth in England, the experience of exile casts a long shadow over their experience of motherhood.'

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