Catalyst for emancipatory practice for birthmothers affected by trauma-based addiction

4WardEverUK • 29 May 2024

source: Tina's Haven

published: May 2024

Image Credit: Truth & Justice 4 Tina


"In Love and Anger" is a report of an action research-based study of the pioneering Tina’s Haven pilot project, delivered in East Durham during 2022 and 2023. Twenty-eight women in addiction recovery participated in the Tina’s Haven pilot project, the majority were birthmothers severed from their children. Full Report / Executive Summary


This study emerges within the context of:


  • Marginalised and vulnerable females in the North East being found 1.7 times as likely to die early than in England and Wales as a whole; and the average age at death falling by ten years, from 47 to 37.
  • Mortality rates from drug poisoning decreasing for males and increasing for females in 2022; and drug related deaths in the North East being consistently the highest of any English region for ten consecutive years. 
  • The North East, having the highest number of children in the care system, 113 per 10K; 1.6 times the national average.
In Love & Anger report

The study shines a light on the plight of birthmothers severed from their children by addiction as a result of VAWG, early trauma, exclusion from their families and communities, being marginalised and stigmatised by state services; and further harmed from involvement with legal institutions that are known to blame and punish women for the abuse they have been subjected to.

The intention of the Tina’s Haven project is to develop a transferable model of holistic and emancipatory praxis, that will bring about self-empowerment and solidarity among birthmothers severed from their children by trauma-based addiction.


Read full article here >

share this article on social media

man using an ipad
by 4WardEverUK 19 April 2026
Issue number #7 of PROOF magazine is out: Cover-ups, jailhouse snitches & scapegoats. It’s The Justice Gap's biggest issue of PROOF with 124 pages shining a light on our broken justice system.
dark prison cell
by 4WardEverUK 19 April 2026
Ohio’s cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment sys­tem has come into sharp focus with the release of two reports that exam­ine the state’s death penal­ty record and draw stark­ly dif­fer­ent con­clu­sions about the future.
court gavel
by 4WardEverUK 19 April 2026
Clinks Reducing Reoffending Third Sector Advisory Group (RR3) Special Interest Group, has published a report on a ‘Whole Systems Approach’ for women in contact with the criminal justice system.
Justice Scales
by 4WardEverUK 24 March 2026
Rodney Reed faces execution in Texas despite mounting evidence of innocence. His execution was stayed this month by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Reed’s lawyers believe he is innocent.
40-20-1 Awards 2023
by 4WardEverUK 23 March 2026
In May 2026 the National Mikey Powell Memorial Family Fund (NMPMFF) will be announcing the nominations process for the second Annual Gala Dinner & Campaigners Awards.
City of Birmingham Medal
by 4WardEverUK 13 March 2026
Birmingham honoured the life and legacy of trailblazing poet Benjamin Zephaniah this week during a ceremony at Birmingham City University’s Benjamin Zephaniah Building.
More Articles