Welcome to Mother Tongue
The Mother Tongue project acknowledges the urgent need for grassroots, language-specific specialist support, education and advocacy for non-English speaking women who are refugees, seeking asylum or otherwise marginalised, in pregnancy, birth and postpartum. We are part of Doulas Without Borders.
What is
Doula Support?
A Doula ensures pregnant women and people receive continuity of care at a life-changing and potentially vulnerable time. Doulas provide nurture and education towards informed decision making, signposts to services and offer 'on the ground' companionship. Doula service can greatly assist in a more positive experience of childbirth and early bonding.
The Mother Tongue project was initiated in response to interrelated crises within maternity care. Many women with refugee status or newly asylum-seeking people (for example) often go through their entire maternity care experience without language or culturally appropriate support. The lack of shared language contributes to the disparity in survival rates between women during the childbearing year. "Maternal death rates were almost four times higher for women from Black ethnic backgrounds and almost two times higher for women from Asian ethnic backgrounds, compared to white women" MBRRACE-UK report, 2020
