THE RIGHT PATHWAY
Sam was 21 and 31 weeks pregnant when she was remanded into custody for shoplifting. She was facing a prison sentence that would have meant giving birth behind bars. As her pregnancy progressed, her fear of harming her baby grew. She had struggled to stabilise her substance use in the community, and felt too ashamed and frightened to fully ask for help. In desperation, she shoplifted deliberately so she would be sent back to prison. For her, custody felt like the only way to stop using and protect her unborn child. That should give us pause.
Luckily Sam met with a judge who was informed and compassionate, and who offered her a suspended sentence on the condition that she enter treatment. Agencies worked quickly together, and within 48 hours of referral Sam was assessed from custody, and a residential placement offered.
the realities of women’ s lives – trauma, motherhood, coercion and poverty – with structured, intensive, trauma-informed treatment options that include residential services and protect both women and their children.
Gender-specific residential services, such as Phoenix’ s National Specialist Family Service based in Sheffield and Ophelia House in Oxford, provide psychologically and physically safe environments where women can begin to recover. They offer structured therapeutic programmes and traumaresponsive care, alongside parenting support delivered within treatment rather than separately from it. Safeguarding processes are transparent and proportionate, helping women understand what’ s happening and why. Support is integrated across housing, domestic abuse services, healthcare and the criminal justice system so women are not left trying to coordinate everything alone.
Our recent internal review of family-centred residential provision showed measurable
Women in custody do not lack resilience. What they need are accessible, gender-specific, trauma-informed alternatives that recognise both risk and potential.
improvements in women’ s recovery outcomes alongside significant gains in children’ s safety, stability and wellbeing. This is whole-family recovery in practice.
Importantly, these services are not soft options. They are structured, accountable and risk aware. They give courts and probation confidence that women are engaging in intensive interventions designed to reduce harm and reoffending.
She arrived believing she would not be allowed to keep her baby. Instead, with coordinated support from probation, social care, maternity services and our residential team, she stabilised. She engaged in antenatal care. She gave birth in hospital and returned to our family service with her daughter. The difference between being born in prison and being born into a supported recovery environment is profound – it shapes attachment, safety and stability from the very beginning.
Sam’ s story is not just about avoiding custody. It’ s about changing a trajectory for her and for her child. But this should not depend on which judge is in court that day, last-minute intervention or exceptional effort. With the right systems in place, this kind of outcome could be the norm.
TREATMENT IS NOT ENOUGH Many women involved in the criminal justice system have experienced services as fragmented or frightening. Safeguarding can feel threatening. Court can feel overwhelming. Housing systems can feel impossible to navigate. Disclosure can feel unsafe.
We cannot simply expect traumatised women to‘ engage better’. Advocacy and coordination are essential. Women need support to understand processes, prepare for meetings, attend appointments and rebuild trust in systems that may have previously let them down. This relational work is not an optional extra – it’ s central to sustainable recovery and reduced reoffending.
To make real alternatives standard practice, women who would benefit from residential
If you’ re interested in developing women’ s pathways or would like to visit one of the family services or Ophelia House please email Rachael at rachael. clegg @ phoenixfutures. org. uk
rehabilitation treatment need to be identified earlier. Funding pathways must be clear and accessible. Referral routes between courts, prisons, probation and treatment providers need to be strong and straightforward. Cross-agency women’ s panels can support timely, informed decision-making. Sentencers need confidence that residential rehabilitation is a credible and effective alternative to custody. And recovery cannot end at dis charge – long-term aftercare planning must be built in from the start.
Rehabilitation should not feel like a‘ golden ticket’ available only when risk escalates to crisis. It should be part of a clear continuum of care that prevents harm rather than simply responding to it.
CALL FOR CHANGE As a society, we often expect the most from the women who have the least support. We ask them to stop using substances, comply with probation, attend court, secure housing, engage with safeguarding and parent under scrutiny, all while managing trauma and fear.
Women in custody do not lack resilience. What they need are accessible, gender-specific, trauma-informed alternatives that recognise both risk and potential. When we create real alternatives to custody and clear pathways into residential rehabilitation, we do more than reduce reoffending. We prevent babies being born into instability. We keep families safely together. We interrupt cycles of trauma.
Recovery for women, whether alone or alongside their children, should not be rare. It should be expected. And together, across justice, health and social care, we can build a system where that expectation becomes reality.
Rachael Clegg is head of operations for women and families at Phoenix Futures
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