'Me and my child' Parenting experiences of young mothers leaving care

Previous research suggests that a woman's past experiences of being parented will have a significant influence on how she parents her own children. This study, reported by Amanda Maxwell, Julie Proctor and Linda Hammond, aimed to explore young care-leaving mothers' experiences of motherhood, focusing on their experience of themselves as mothers, their relationship with their child and their understanding of their child's experiences. Six mothers were interviewed who had spent time in care and were teenagers at the time of the birth of their child. They also completed diaries of their experiences over a two-week period. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and super-ordinate themes were identified. These themes were represented as dialectical positions and included: the ideal and reality; motherhood as building positive views of self and other, but also highlighting vulnerability; identification with her child but also feeling taken over by him or her; and external world as needed but also unwanted and destabilising. These results are discussed in relation to existing literature, and practice and research implications are considered.