Black Mothers Matter Community Groups - Evaluation

Observations, interviews, assistance with Annual Survey 2024

This evaluation aimed to learn from the activities of Black Mothers Matter community groups, exploring how they work, who they work for, and under what circumstances.

The Black Mothers Matter have been running community groups based in Bristol since September 2022. They are led by organisers and facilitators with professional and personal expertise of motherhood and all racialised as Black or Mixed Black. Each week, they run a ‘Bumps and Babies’ group, where mothers can attend any time during pregnancy and up to 1 year post birth. The sessions involve a range of activities, from children’s first aid and soft play activities to yoga and masseuse sessions.

Evidence is needed about the acceptability and effectiveness of this approach in Bristol, to support the continuing success and funding of these projects.

We observed the Bumps and Babies sessions between March and May 2024 through joining in with activities and making notes of what was happening. We spoke with mothers at the groups about the sessions, what they enjoyed about them, and what difference they were making. We interviewed organisers and group facilitators of Black Mothers Matter before and after the period of observation, to understand more about the groups and think together about why these activities are important, and how they may help. We gathered further information from mothers as part of the group’s annual end of year feedback form.

Summary of findings: What did we learn?
We found the Black Mothers Matter community group offering holistic support, and creating a communal environment for mothers and babies to connect, socialise, and support one another. This appeared especially significant given the context of racism and discriminatory practices experienced in maternity systems, and a lack of safe spaces for Black birthers and babies. Many mothers reported feeling deprioritised by other baby groups, and unsupported during this key time of change and transition, and appreciated the very different and transformative experience of BMM groups. Through the facilitators’ authentic and personalised approach, the fostering of connections, and through centring and bridging anti-racist practices, the community group appeared to be supporting a range of beneficial short term and potentially long-term outcomes for mothers and babies.

We identified three broad and overlapping themes which are detailed in our report:
Personalised and authentic facilitation
Fostering connections: building support systems and a village for mothers and babies
Centring and bridging anti-racist practices

We describe a range of Outcome Indicators with potential for benefit and a number of challenges the group is addressing.

We also report the Black Mothers Matter Annual Survey 2024. A total of 22 birthers participated in this survey. These mothers and birthers attended either the ‘Bumps and Babies’ group for birthers with babies up to 1 years old, or the ‘Boing!’ group for birthers with babies who are older or more mobile. Survey responses detail a range of benefits participants and their babies have experienced, with some suggestions for further improvement.

Conclusion:
This small scale evaluation highlights the potential positive outcomes the Black Mothers Matter community groups can create for mothers, enabling them to feel rested, restored, validated, represented and celebrated; for babies, where they can explore and play in a safe and shared environment, and for relationships between mothers and health care professionals, where mothers feel more empowered to access healthcare in a confident and informed way. This is made possible through the broad range of personal, professional and expertise by experience of the organisers and facilitators, who adopt an individualised, holistic, anti-racist and culturally-informed approach.

We offer some recommendations for Commissioners.