About

The Sisterhood started in 2014 as a way of meeting other women who could relate to growing up without a mother. The bonds that grew made it clear there’s a great need for women to connect with one another and share the experience which is lifelong. That’s even more crucial for younger girls and their siblings who are still shaping their self-concept and the way they navigate the world without their mum.

In 2024 we won a grant to strengthen the community in north London, bringing together younger daughters and their families and siblings for friendship, guidance and connection.


We want to honour and mobilise our experience from the ground up so we can improve longterm life outcomes for girls and their families.

What & Why


Losing mothering early,  whether through death or in other ways, is the most searing disconnection a child can carry and it’s one which is societally feared and stigmatised.

 

It’s is a wound of separation and it doesn’t just happen through death; it can happen in many ways.

 

Experienced young it’s often an experience of emotional neglect, which is usually unseen and unintended. It’s very often traumatic. It can also be experienced as an abandonment, not necessarily by the mother but as a societal abandonment. Beneath all of which lies the veil of silence around it and a loss of unconditional support and faith.

 

All this can bear lasting impacts on young people which aren’t usually seen at the time of death or separation. We know that without early recognition the loss of mothering can hamper development through to adulthood; it can build unhelpful coping defences, affect self-worth, educational attainment and relationships and it can negate life and health outcomes.

 

 

We know these impacts are preventable. They’re not solely the result of the loss or separation but also how society as a whole responds to it. It’s not any one person’s fault.

 

We believe that without attention to how major childhood disconnections interact with embedded social norms, then parents or professionals caring for young people are looking through a narrowed lens.

 

We know that the experience needs to be recognised and healed on local community levels and supported by our schools and systems, not just by the remaining care giver and not just behind closed doors.

 

Girls and their siblings and families need to be emotionally supported via the sharing and normalising of the experience with each another as well as with those of us who have already walked that path and understand it.

 

This project is therefore dedicated to building grassroots community networks around the early loss of mothering and to linking in with professional and statutory services as needed.

 

How

We’re offering this platform for women and girls everywhere to speak.

It’s a space where we can honour our experience, anonymously or otherwise, honour our mothers if we wish, and share our advice and resources.

 

For Adult Motherless Daughters who were under 18 at the time

Subscribe to our mailing list and we’ll we’ll let you know of any events and women’s circles across London or further afield.

 

North London Community

On the ground we’ll be hosting a series of community building events starting in north London and the boroughs of Camden, Barnet and Brent.

  • We’re setting up a service for younger motherless girls to meet one another locally, have fun, receive peer support and express themselves through creative activities in safe spaces.
  • We’ll also connect their fathers or guardians carers and their siblings together locally for peer support and we’ll be building a north London lived-experience volunteer and professional network around them.
  • Register your interest and help us build the network. Get Involved

Our aims

 

  • Raise awareness of all the issues around growing up without mothering.
  • Challenge outmoded cultural norms such as the death taboo and individualistic mind-sets which isolate young people following early adversity.
  • Foster local community and create real in-person connections to sustain motherless girls and their families longterm.

Shared Experiences

Mum died just after her 42nd birthday and my 13th. Ten years later my father also died unexpectedly. I’ve been blessed with some wonderful people and experiences and adventures through life, but there have been enormous challenges and repeating themes through life;  the identity of unbelonging and outsiderhood handed to me has kept circling around and it’s affected my life’s choices. I know now that if I’d met others who understood while I was growing up and if I’d had a little more guidance life would have been much easier. 

Read more

Values

There’s strength in numbers. Repair is all about connection to our sisters who ‘get it’, connection to our emotions and to the part of ourselves we abandoned and connection to the greater whole to which we all belong. 

Make friends with others who understand, have your back and have fun while you’re at it!

Emotional expression and the sharing your feelings in a safe, space supercharges your life, dismantles defences and restores trust!

Healing and connection doesn’t come with conditions and it doesn’t cost anything to make local friends who understand you.