New film Lollipop powerfully lays bare the ‘inhumane’ way mothers are cut off from their children

There is a charged energy in the cinema as dozens of women, some of whom have had their children removed from their care and others who work to support them, come together for a preview screening of new film Lollipop.

It tells the story of Molly (Posy Sterling), a young single mother who leaves prison expecting to be reunited with her children, but she is released into homelessness. Her council will only provide her with a one-bedroom flat, just one of the many obstacles she encounters to regain custody created by a system that doesn’t prioritise what’s in the best interests for parent or child. It’s a heartbreaking story familiar to many at this screening.

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Writer and director Daisy-May Hudson first won acclaim for her 2017 documentary Half Way about her own family’s experiences of homelessness. In her 20s, she taught herself to make a documentary, and it became the first film used as official evidence in a parliamentary inquiry into homelessness. Her debut feature has already generated enormous buzz at festivals ahead of its general release this week, but Hudson hopes it will have a positive impact on the situation it depicts.

At this special screening, hosted by Big Issue, it’s clear Lollipop is already making a mark. “I don’t think so many tears have ever been shed in a cinema,” one audience member says. Another adds that it is a “powerful, nuanced, beautiful film” and “a privilege to watch it with this group of people”. 

Speaking in a Q&A after the film, Hudson says: “I don’t normally get nervous at screenings, but this one has meaning, because you guys are doing such beautiful work in this space. To be able to screen it, and for you to say that it’s true and real means a lot.”

The 34-year-old filmmaker was joined by panellists Karina Graham, who had her children removed from her care in 2018 and now works helping other women at charity Pause, and Maria Brul, campaigns and influencing manager at Agenda Alliance, which has done groundbreaking research into women’s experiences of child removal.

“I wanted to say thank you,” Graham says to Hudson. “There’s not much awareness. There’s stigma and shame when a mother loses her children.”

Graham’s children were returned to her care three years ago, but “it’s a battle and it’s not easy”, she says. 

“To see it play out in film, it really hit home. 

“There are other women in this room who have had the same experience, and I know how powerful it is to sit here after going through that.”

Graham is the involvement and communications assistant at Pause and works to ensure that women’s voices drive change in services for women impacted by child removal. She says it is a “postcode lottery” and the fact “there’s no statutory duty for women to receive support after they’ve had their children removed is mind-boggling”.

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The situation faced by Molly in the film is a cruel reality of the system: mothers with children are prioritised for social housing, but those who have had their children removed are treated as single women. They are only allocated rooms for children already living with them, so there is little hope of being reunited.

Hudson’s experience of homelessness is different to Molly’s – she had her mother and sister with her when they were evicted from their home. But like Molly, she “felt very alone, even though I was surrounded by my family, because it’s just an isolating experience”. 

“Sometimes when you’re in survival mode, it’s very easy to put your barriers up,” she says.

After the critical acclaim of Half Way, Hudson was awarded Bafta Breakthrough, where she met Parkville Pictures and was encouraged to write her first scripted feature. 

She had encountered women with similar experiences to Molly through housing activism and, while she never imagined moving away from documentaries, there were ethical challenges with showing their trauma on screen. She decided to fictionalise their stories through Lollipop.

“I connected to that mother lioness spirit of women to be able to push through the thing that feels impossible, bound by absolute determination to come back to their children. It’s such a human thing, and it’s a bodily experience. That was always the driving force,” Hudson says.

Around 10,000 families are involved in care proceedings each year in England, and the number of children looked after by the state has increased by more than a fifth over the last decade and is at a record high of more than 83,000.

Agenda Alliance’s Brul, who was involved in influencing the government kinship care strategy, supporting children to stay within their family networks and community rather than corporate care, says: “Local authorities and government know what the driving factors are, but it’s implementing the changes. It’s making sure that the right support services are in place, and that there are gender-informed services – that they’re looking at women as women but also as mothers.”

There is a harrowing scene in Lollipop when Molly screams in the council office – a wild and animalistic howl filled with anger – as she pleads for help and is told there is no support for her. Staff threaten to call the police.

“It’s the sheer powerlessness of someone coming into your life and saying: ‘We’re going to remove your children,’” Hudson says. “That’s happened historically to women. It’s totally inhumane. Women go through that process with social services, and then they’re told not to react, don’t be emotional.

“You might be sitting in an office being told that your children are now going to be put into adoption. That means you literally don’t have any connection to them past that point, and you’re told not to be emotional, because it could impact the case. 

“There’s a narrative of being too much, too emotional, being hysterical, too dangerous, too wild. You’re going through a traumatic experience, and you’re not allowed to react.”

The lack of support has a devastating impact. Women who have had children removed are 14 times more likely to die young from causes including ill-health, suicide, substance overdose and homicide, according to a study by the University of Edinburgh and Pause.

Graham explains she spent thousands of pounds to take her local authority to court, and her child wrote letters to the judge to say he wanted to come home.

“I’ve had to make big, brave decisions. Their dad relapsed, and the first thing I did was call social services, and they called me the child’s protector. That’s how I knew I’d changed, because I wasn’t doing it for myself or my relationship I was putting my children first,” Graham says.

Lollipop features cast members who have experience of the issues raised in the film, and Hudson worked with social workers, lawyers and other experts on the script.

“I always wanted to focus on the human rather than the system or the people working within the system,” Hudson says. “I met people who are trying their best and they care, but are pinned by red tape or bureaucracy.”

The government declined an invitation to the screening of Lollipop. Asked what she would say to a minister if they were in the audience, Graham says: “It’s a children’s care system, but we also need to support the adults for us to be able to extend that support to the children.”

Adult social care services are not directly involved with supporting parents who have had their children removed from care, and there is no clear legislation protecting them. 

Brul says ministers are making strides with the child poverty strategy, women’s justice strategy and in tackling violence against women, but these are disparate and government departments and local authorities must work together to ensure people are supported. 

Hudson hopes Lollipop could be the “flame to spark conversations”. There is hope, laughter and beauty to be found in the film. Molly finds community, particularly with her childhood friend Amina (Idil Ahmed), who is also a single mother facing homelessness. 

There were times when Graham says she felt guilty for feeling joy after her children were removed, but the film reveals that there is happiness to be found within these families too, despite their hardship.

Hudson says, “Life is good, and we can always find joy and we can always find hope. I want people to come out of the cinema knowing that they’ve seen the truth, but there’s also a lot of hope and joy in life. That’s my experience.

“When we feel grief or despair, we can also allow ourselves to feel joy, laughter and happiness. I just want people to feel. People can take away what they want from it, but I think there’s enough sadness in the world. People need hope. Hopefully, this is the spark.”

Lollipop is released in cinemas nationwide from 13 June. Get advance Q&A screenings and tickets here

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