Mothers Apart from Their Children (MATCH) started in 1979 as a self-help group and attained charitable status in 2006. It’s run by an elected Committee (Trustees) in their homes. All Trustees are, or have been, mothers apart from their children. Our income derives entirely from £6 - £25 Membership fees plus donations. We are UK-based but have Members world-wide.

Members are apart from their child for many complex reasons but, for general simplification, fall into these six main groups:

• Child has been adopted.
• Child is in care.
• Child has been abducted by the other parent.
• Child lives with the Resident Parent (father). Mother may have Non-Resident Parent (NRP) status and sees/writes/telephones/texts/e-mails child according to clearly defined Contact Orders or Family Court Judgments.
• Child chooses not to see mother after high conflict situations following family breakdown, voicing intense criticism of her, sometimes verging on hatred. This is sometimes defined as Parental Alienation Syndrome.
• Adult child, after a family feud or the family splitting up, chooses not to see his mother.