Significant progress has been made in profiling mothers who are at risk of “recurrent care proceedings”, alongside the development of supportive services. However, issues that concern the heightened vulnerability of young mothers to repeated involvement in care proceedings remain under-researched. Consequently, a series of questions are yet to be answered, including, for instance, how teenage mothers challenge and navigate the family justice system and whether an early pattern of repeat appearances can become chronic across the life course.

This work is the first to use the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS) data to probe patterns of recurrence over a 14-year observational window. Group-based multi-trajectory modelling (GBMTM) is used to analyse young mothers’ trajectories in the family justice system (FJS). At present, GBMTM has been widely used in criminology and clinical research to map the developmental course of criminal offending and psychological disorders. When applied to the context of the FJS, this method is used first to identify subgroups of teenage mothers who follow distinctive care trajectories, and then also to examine whether risk of returning to court diminishes at a certain age. The findings will help us better understand and significantly improve the life outcomes of teenage mothers in England.