There is little known about mothers who are recovering from addictions who lose custody of their children. This hermeneutic thesis, using Canadian phenomenologist Max van Manen’s method and a combination of both scholarly elements and rich storytelling, explores the lived experience of four women recovering from addictions who have lost custody of their children. Using a dual approach of manual and computer-assisted coding, three themes (each with three sub-themes) emerged from semi-structured interviews. The first theme, betrayal, examines three sources of betrayal for the women. The second theme, soul-ache, describes the spaces that a mother finds herself in upon losing custody of her children. The third and final theme, reclamation, follows the mothers as they learn to live again. The findings of this thesis, situated within disciplinary knowledge, extend current knowledge regarding these mothers. The implications arising from this thesis are discussed and recommendations for future research are provided. / 2011-03

In Ontario, 1% of women who give birth have their newborn infant apprehended by child protection agencies (~200/year). Hospital-based perinatal nurses are in a unique position to support mothers. However, there is a lack of research examining mothers’ experiences of newborn infant apprehension. The purpose of this study was to explore mothers’ experiences with nurses and other providers when newborn infant apprehension occurs. Doka’s Disenfranchised Grief Framework was used as a lens to help guide the research questions, methods and analysis. Thorne’s Interpretive Descriptive approach was employed. Mothers who had experienced newborn infant apprehension in the last 10 years were recruited from an agency in Ontario. Nine individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted. When analyzing the data, the researchers identified patterns and themes from among the mothers’ varied experiences. The analysis resulted in four themes: Not good enough, I am a mother, I have rights, I live everyday like I’m grieving, and Hope in the face of adversity. The findings illuminated the imbalance of power that mothers face when experiencing newborn infant apprehension, where power and authority rest with health and social service providers. This research study will focus on the findings describing what mothers want - for nurses to be open-minded, non-judgmental, to teach mothers regarding cycles of violence, and to advocate for mothers’ rights. Ultimately, the mothers posited that nurses are well positioned to empower mothers, thereby giving them the opportunity to begin recovery. The findings indicate a need for nurses to provide safe, compassionate, competent, ethical care and inform how perinatal nurses can better support mothers experiencing newborn infant apprehension.