Systemic Reform Opportunities for the Most Vulnerable Mothers

Abstract

Roca, a community-based organization based in Chelsea, Massachusetts, works with mothers who represent the highest levels of risk and vulnerability. Specifically, Roca mothers are poor, face significant instability, and have experienced extensive trauma throughout their lives. In addition, because of their trauma, mothers at Roca often do not participate in support programs for at-risk mothers such as home visiting programs or government programs and services, such as TANF, housing, early intervention, and child care support that are designed to help them. When they do interact with government systems, these mothers have trouble navigating siloed policies and procedures of government programs and services, resulting in many unmet needs. Human-centered Design (HCD) is a process centered on the notion that people who will ultimately benefit from a service should be at the center of the design and implementation process. Though focus groups with 30 mothers, this project aimed to begin a HCD process by better understanding the positive aspirations of Roca’s young mothers, and the challenges they confront. It also aimed to better understand the role government systems and programs play in their lives, including both supportive systems like TANF and punitive systems like Child Services. Specifically, the project sought to identify opportunities to redesign government systems so they might better serve these mothers and their children, ultimately fulfilling the goal of stabilizing these young, extremely vulnerable families. Focus groups with mothers at Roca revealed that these mothers had many positive aspirations for themselves and their children. They were often held back from achieving these aspirations by negative perceptions held by people and systems with which they interacted and by an overwhelming range of challenges within their daily lives. Challenges mothers described included persistent violence, instability, and the combination of many relentless factors that occured simultaneously. These challenges left mothers feeling overwhelmed, led to mental health issues, and ultimately led to their nonparticipation in programs and services designed to support them. Recommendations for programs and services that want to support these mothers include addressing nonparticipation and instability and recognizing motherhood as a platform for change rather than a risk factor.