Newborn babies in care proceedings

The Council of Europe and judges in England have described the separation of mothers and babies within hours or days of an infant’s birth as a very severe form of intervention in family life fraught with ethical, legal and procedural challenges.

Since 2018, our research, carried out by the Family Justice Data Partnership, has revealed the increasing numbers of newborn babies who are subject to care proceedings in England and Wales – a figure that has more than doubled in the last decade, and which reveals significant variations across the regions.

There is also growing national and international recognition of what is commonly termed the ‘repeat removals’ problem. For a proportion of birth mothers – and also fathers – history can repeat itself and result in the successive removal of children from their care through family court proceedings.

• Our Newborn babies and care proceedings project is a collaboration with the Centre for Child & Family Justice Research at Lancaster University, the Rees Centre at Oxford University and Research in Practice to provide information, evidence, advice and innovation to help professionals working in children’s social care, health services and the family justice system to better face the difficulties and dilemmas that are inherent in this area of work, and, most importantly, to improve practice and support for families. Subscribe to our regular bulletins.
• Our Born into Care research by the Centre for Child and Family Justice at Lancaster University and the Family Justice Data Partnership continues to track the rising number of infants in care proceedings. The analysis has also revealed that in the majority of cases involving newborn babies, parents are given very little formal notice that care proceedings have been issued and the case is to be heard in court, which may result in the baby being removed from their care.
• Our rapid evidence and case law reviews in December 2019 underlined the acute pain and stress experienced by all involved in cases where a baby is removed at birth – both family and practitioners. With researchers at Lancaster University and the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford, led by Professor Karen Broadhurst, we are now developing the first national, evidence-informed good practice guidelines for professionals involved in the process of removing newborn babies from their mother at birth.
• Our study of 1,000 mothers in Wales who were at risk of having their babies removed –which brings together Cafcass data and GP health records for the first time– is helping to paint a fuller picture of the issues affecting them. We showed that over half have experienced mental health problems. We also challenged the assumption that mothers who become involved with children’s services avoid or delay interaction with antenatal services.
• Using national administrative data we are examining women’s recurrent appearances in care proceedings in England and Wales. Our 2022 report found that one in every four mothers who have appeared in a first set of care proceedings is at risk of returning to the family court within 10 years. There is also a growing body of research providing evidence of the circumstances of the mothers and fathers who experience recurrent proceedings, the impact on them of having children removed in this way and the most effective services to support them. Our Spotlight paper brings together the key messages from this research.