When a decision is taken to remove an infant from his or her mother within hours or days of the infant’s birth, this presents particular challenges for professionals and is highly distressing for birth mothers, birth fathers and wider family networks. It is therefore important to establish the proportion of cases that are issued at birth and begin to build an empirical evidence base about this particular population of infants in the family justice system. The objectives of this report are to:
a. provide the first estimate and profile of newborns in care proceedings in England using national population-level data
b. provide a critical discussion of the findings for further consideration and development by family justice stakeholders.
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