Amma Birth Companions

Amma Birth Companions is a unique charity working across Greater Glasgow & Clyde. Our services include pregnancy, birth and postnatal companionship, antenatal education, and peer support. We also engage in advocacy and research aimed at creating a more equitable maternal care system.

Amma was founded in 2019 and we have supported over 400 people to date. Last year alone, we supported 194 individuals across all our services— building upon a consistent pattern of doubling the number of clients served annually since we began.

We support women (and by extension, their new babies and older children) who are seeking asylum or have insecure immigration status, as well as other underserved groups facing complex and intersectional barriers to maternity care and associated support.

Our clients are grappling with a mix of complex life situations, severe trauma, domestic and gender-based violence, human trafficking, poverty, insecure housing and female genital mutilation. A significant portion of our clients have been separated from their support networks, with many lacking known partners or friends and family during crucial moments like pregnancy and childbirth.

Many of the people we support experience barriers to accessing maternity services, and some may not have accessed any maternity care until late in their pregnancy. Over half of our clients speak/read little or no English and face barriers to communication and accessing information.