‘I can’t sleep, I’m terrified’: the rise in mothers having their babies taken away within days of giving birth in England | Social care

EShe gave birth to no* her daughter in a London hospital last week. Days later, still in the same crowded hospital, appeared through a laptop in a court hearing, challenging the emergency order issued by the council, who wants to transfer her child to care.

“I’m not eating properly. I can’t sleep because I am afraid.” I just want to go home with my child. ” observer At the end of this week. “I don’t feel that they give me a chance.”

From 2022 to 2023, nearly 3000 newborn children underwent care procedures in England, according to government data analysis conducted by the Novld Family Justice Observatory (NFJO), which was shared exclusively with the World Health Organization. observer.

This is an increase of about 20% since the period 2012-2013, and experts and lawyers believe that early intervention and the best support from a group of exhausted services that suffer from a lack of financing would have made it possible for many of these children to stay with their mothers.

NFJO Others are concerned about the huge number of these cases, although they admit that some children will need care to maintain their safety, as a result of issues that include addiction and domestic violence. Sometimes this may happen due to a truly unexpected condition, such as a mother with a psychotic attack.

However, in most cases, they say there is no need for councils to try to seize a child in a legal panic at the last minute. They want to put an end to the “inhumane” practice of expecting the weak mothers who have just gave birth to the defense of themselves in the court’s procedures, and sometimes with a notice of less than one day, although the councils had known months ago that the child was on his way.

the observer Examples of women who are expected to take public transportation to the court were listed immediately after birth, in one cases with punctuation after a cesarean section, and curtains loaded around a bed in a crowded suite so that mothers can attend a high -risk hearing by default.

NFJO found that 80 % of the mothers whose newborns underwent career procedures in England and Wales received a seven-day notice or less at a court hearing to remove their new child in 2022-3. Nearly 20 % received a notification of a listening session that is scheduled to be held on the same day.

In the Ella case, her lawyer said that the council had concerns several months before its birth, but he nevertheless issued a notice at the last minute to take urgent legal action while it was in the birth suite.

Like many thousands of women in her position every year, Ella was under care and has a complex history of shocks. She suffered from post -traumatic disorder after the death of her first child when he was five months old, and the police achieved the matter and concluded that no other action was taken.

During pregnancy, Ella dealt with Mental health service in the period surrounding birth Local material abuse service. The court was informed that the result of its test was positive for hashish using it.

Because she knows that social services will have concerns, she informed the Elleng Council in June that she was pregnant in the tenth week. In the hearing held on Thursday, Judge David Wellans, a judge in the Family Court in West London, indicated that this was “unusual” and that the courts often deal with “parents who bury their heads in the sand.”

However, despite this early interaction, the chain of child protection meetings and legal planning held by Eling in the coming months about what she considered “the risk of serious harm” to the child, Ella’s lawyer, Oliver Conway from the law firm Oliver Fischer, told the court that she entered the birth without a plan Clear for what will happen next.

She obtained the court documents in the hospital two days after birth.

Conway said that the family members who adhered to the support of Ella in the care of the girl, whose details were provided to Eleng in December, did not contact the council and did not reside.

Conway described his client’s experience as “very painful”, and said in a written statement to the court: “The behavior of Los Angeles is this [local authority] He conflicts with best practices. They acted without transparency, without care and without sympathy. ”

His statement added: “It had to give [legal] Instructions on very special matters from her hospital bed, in wing and kitchens, without any privacy.

In the hearing session, all parties agreed to transfer Ella and her child to the mother and child unit, where she will live under strict monitoring, until another hearing in the court in February.

“Ensuring the safety and welfare of children, youth and adults, weakened adults is essential for our social work practices,” said a spokesman for the Eleng Council.

“This is a complex legal issue, so we cannot respond directly to it at the present time.

“Not all the evidence that the court needs to make its decision has yet been presented.

“We are very proud of our social welfare teams, which work very hard in very difficult situations to support children and weak families.”

“In the northeast, it is not uncommon for councils to issue procedures as the mother must attend personally to the court immediately after birth,” said Karen Broadhest, a professor of social work at the University of Lancaster and an expert in care at birth. birth.”

She added: “I have been told about a mother who has a drop in her arm after she underwent a cesarean section while she was trying to move on public transport.”

In a Modern research paper In her call for a “basic review” of these urgent care procedures, Professor Brudorst conducted an interview with a legal guardian who said: “We expect parents to come to the court to be at their best, after they just left their child – with a strong fear that someone will take the child Away while their departure.

Broadheres said it is common for the new mothers who face this matter that they do not realize that they need to find a lawyer. One of the midwife, which the newspaper quoted her horror, described it when a “wearing a suit” arrived at the wing without warning. “I just served her, and I saw it, and I did not believe what was happening. This woman had only gave birth to the previous day.”

Sonya* discovered last year when she was in the twentieth week of pregnancy that her child might be transferred to care. “They did not tell me that I needed a lawyer until a week before my birth, and by the time of my birth I had no lawyer yet. I tried a lot but they did not respond to me observer.

The midwife found a lawyer persuaded the judge to temporarily put Sonia in the mother and child unit. She now lives alone successfully with her child.

“It was difficult. Everyone has this impression on you through what they saw written. But things are going well now. I’m very happy because I will stay together,” said Sonia, who grew up in the care house.

Many others are less fortunate. “We got painful certificates from mothers who gave birth and were sent to a house full of children’s things on their own,” said Lisa Harker, NFJO director.

“This happens and everyone looks away. There is a process related to your care if your child is dead. But there is nothing for mothers who lose their children this way.

Kat de Baker, who is looking at the effect of removing children at Kings College University in London after she worked as a specialized interview: “The first time she saw a mother being physically removed from her child, she found it really painful,” Kat de Baker, who is looking at the effect of removing children at Kings College University in London after she worked as a specialized interview.

“You need training to deal with this. I didn’t know how to support this mother in her sadness and loss.”

In a Modern research paper to European Journal of CamelDe Baker said that these mothers are usually suffering from a great shock in their lives, and often the loss of their children leads to a “severe crisis.”

She found that a third of women ended up with the court within two years, often because they gave birth to another child as a way to adapt, after which this child was also taken to care.

Harker said: “Mothers, midwives, lawyers, lawyers and judges tell us all that the way we do this is inhuman. It is not a way to provide justice. Everyone agrees to this, but it is still happening. ”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Education said: “We are committed to the help of families to stay together, wherever it is safe, and for this reason we are reforming the system to focus on early intervention and ensure that family networks are always consulted over the decisions related to children,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Education. Transfer the child to care. “

*The names have been changed.