Cristel and Trinity at the Crossroads Women’s Centre meeting [Crossroads Women’s Centre]

A MOTHER has finally been reunited with her children after a restrictive court order gave custody to her abusive ex.

The Camden resident, who cannot be named as she is a victim of domestic violence, said collective self-help meetings in Kentish Town’s Crossroads Women’s Centre were instrumental in overturning the “never-ending nightmare”, which saw her children taken away from her for four years.

Mothers and campaigners met at the centre in Wolsey Mews last Tuesday to hear how women succeeded in reuniting their family after their children were removed by social workers due to poverty, disability or immigration status.

Tracey Norton, from the group Support Not Separation, said the organisation is campaigning for money, a “care income”, and help for mothers who need additional support, rather than breaking up families.

She said: “The majority of us are all on low income and our poverty is used against us in the family courts.They disguise it and call it ‘neglect’ when our children have never been harmed. When you separate a mother from a child it’s very traumatic for both.Speaking from personal experience, it’s a lifelong trauma you never get over.

“Disabled mothers are denied the money and resources they are legally entitled to in favour of a privatised child removal system that [relies on] an ever-steady stream of removed children.”

Speaking through tears, a mother thanked Support Not Separation for their help.

When the stay-at-home mum asked for a divorce, she said the abuse from her husband “spiralled into coercive control” so he could get custody of the children. She said that because of the two-child benefit cap, she was not able to afford her privately rented home on benefits.

“We were left in dire straits,” the mum said. “The social worker warned me that I had already used up my three tokens of the year for the local food banks within six months.

“I reached a breaking point and he managed to coerce me… to make an arrangement out of court he would have the children and I would see them very often. “Unsurprisingly the first thing he did was prevent me from seeing them for six months.

“We went back to court and this time my solicitor actively advised me not to mention his abuses – this ‘advice’ damaged my case.”

Now her children are able to stay with her overnight once a fortnight and half of the school holidays.

She added: “Of course, I want much more and I’ll carry on fighting. But in the meantime, we are focusing on rebuilding our relationships that were so badly broken down.”