Manager: Criminal Justice Services

Birth Companions is a charity that supports women experiencing multiple disadvantage during the perinatal period in the community in London and the southeast, and in prisons across the country.

Our work aims to improve the lives of mothers and babies by:

- improving the mental health and well-being of pregnant women and new mother
- enabling new mothers to give their babies the best possible start in life
- empowering women to fulfil their potential through engagement
- driving improvements in the local and national policy and practice that impacts on mothers and their babies.

By working towards these aims, we hope that all women who face disadvantage and inequality during this crucial point in their lives will have the support they need to give their baby the best possible start, and to fulfil their own potential, whatever their circumstances. 

Birth Companions’ values have shaped the organisation’s approach from the outset and are still as important to us as ever. We are a women’s organisation built on feminist principles, delivering woman-to-woman support. Choice, empowerment and protecting women’s rights have always been central to the way we work. Through the work of our staff and trained volunteers we offer practical and emotional support before, during and after birth. We work in a woman-centred way that is trauma-informed, flexible and non-judgemental, basing our support on what a woman tells us she needs. 

Work across our frontline services shows us what matters to women, and where things can and should be better in the care they receive from others. Based on these insights, we commission academic and peer-led research and direct the attention of local and national policy-makers, commissioners and service providers to what needs to change, and how. Everyone at Birth Companions plays a role in this. Communication and collaboration between our frontline practitioners, policy and engagement staff and the women in our Lived Experience Team means we are able to identify and monitor issues and themes and draw on learning in order to feed them into conversations with senior stakeholders across maternity, criminal justice, social services and immigration. In this way we ensure our policy and influencing work is rooted in the day-to-day experiences of women and what will make most difference to them and their babies. 

The Criminal Justice Services Manager will manage and develop all aspects of Birth Companions’ criminal justice-based services and line-manage the criminal justice services Coordinators, (currently three staff members but this likely to increase as we expand our services).

They will develop and maintain strategic partnerships with other relevant agencies and ensure the successful delivery of services through internal monitoring and evaluation, external evaluation and the charity’s governance structures.

The Criminal Justice Services Manager will be responsible for contributing to the development and implementation of new prison and wider criminal justice system-based services through stakeholder engagement and service design where opportunities are identified.

The Criminal Justice Services Manager will also contribute to the policy, engagement and strategic work of the organisation where appropriate.