ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon the findings from a study that investigated women’s experiences as mothers in the context of domestic violence, focusing on the issue of support for women and their mothering. It first addresses how abused women defined positive support and identifies instances where they had been provided with it, by either their informal social networks or by voluntary or statutory services. However, this chapter also exposes reasons why such support often failed to materialise, including the barriers that prevent abused women from reaching out for support. In this regard, it also addresses the general lack of attention that is given to the issue of mothering by the women’s informal social networks and by voluntary and statutory services, and the tendency to focus on women’s ‘failures’ as mothers, particularly in statutory services. The findings presented in this chapter are not intended to provide a ‘snap shot’ of current provisions or an evaluation of the services currently available, as the women who participated in this research had been in contact with a range of services over a considerable period of time. Nevertheless, these findings highlight a number of themes that emerged from the interviews, which demonstrate the ways in which the ideologies and structures that constitute the institution of motherhood influenced the women’s experiences of contact with their informal social networks as well as with voluntary and statutory services.
