- Published
The number of children involved in care proceedings before they reach their first birthdays is at a persistently high level across England, according to experts who have published new figures.
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who → publish → figures
Data from the universities of Lancaster and Oxford indicates care proceedings for babies have risen by 64% over the past two decades, with one in 118 infants affected.
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one → indicate → infants
The figures - up to 2024-25 - peaked during Covid, before dropping slightly and plateauing.
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figures → peak → Covid
While there are cases where it is unsafe for parents to continue contact with their children, experts have told File on 4 Investigates that many babies may not have needed to go into care if support had been in place.
And, since very young children who go into care are more likely to be adopted than older children, there are also concerns from experts that some may have been permanently separated from their birth families unnecessarily.
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some → be → families
The BBC understands that new guidance for Family Court judges, to significantly reduce the number of short-notice care hearings - within hours or days of a baby being born - will be announced before the end of the year.
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baby → understand → year
According to latest government figures, 72% of adopted children in England went into care before turning one.
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% → accord → one
Most of the adoptions, more than 90%, went ahead without parents' written consent - according to CoramBAAF, which represents those working in adoption and care.
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which → go → adoption
Courts overruled parents' wishes in just under half of those cases.
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Courts → overrule → cases
The rest were classed as "unopposed", with many parents advised not to contest the adoptions, because they would be unlikely to succeed.
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they → class → adoptions
Adoption should be pursued as a last resort, the government and adoption organisations have told us, because, while it offers stability, it also severs the legal relationship between the child and its birth family forever.
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it → pursue → child
When a child is placed in care, birth parents are often allowed contact - but not always.
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parents → place → contact
Analysis of care proceedings suggests between a fifth and a quarter were "clear-cut", where a child had suffered serious harm or abuse, says Prof Karen Broadhurst from Lancaster University.
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Broadhurst → suggest → University
But the majority were "grey area" cases of neglect by families with complex needs, she says, including drug and alcohol abuse, and housing issues, which might have improved with support.
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which → say → support
However, children's charity Coram - which, like CoramBAAF, is part of a wider network of specialist children's organisations - warns that if infants in care are not adopted, they would likely remain in care.
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they → warn → care
And research shows that many children brought up in the care system experience much poorer outcomes in life than those outside it.
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children → show → it
Social workers are at the heart of the decision-making process as to whether a child should be taken into care.
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child → take → care
One of them, whom we are calling Tracy, describes the dilemmas she and her colleagues face daily, balancing giving families time to get through a crisis, against the risk of failing to intervene.
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she → call → risk
She says she and her colleagues carry out wide-ranging and detailed assessments of parents - including judging whether there is enough past and present evidence of a future risk of harm to their children.
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she → say → children
In some cases, she says, they deal with families "riddled with abuse and neglect" where no-one is able to safely bring up a child.
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one → say → child
Extreme, high-profile cases, like those of Baby P in north London and Sara Sharif in Woking, Surrey, have served as a reminder of that.
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cases → serve → that
The British Association of Social Workers told us their members are doing their best against a backdrop of increasing caseloads and reduction in resources.
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members → tell → resources
With only about 10% of adoptions in England made with written consent from birth parents, according to CoramBAAF, this has led campaigners and some experts to describe the situation as modern-day "forced adoption".
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this → make → adoption
Broadhurst acknowledges that term is "politically loaded" and the modern care system is very different from the coercive practices that took place mainly between 1949 and 1976 - and for which the government recently apologised for cases in England.
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government → acknowledge → England
But she says it "is actually what's happening because parents do not agree".
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parents → say → ?
"They want to continue to be in contact with a child," she says.
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she → want → child
"Even parents who feel they couldn't look after a child at that point find it particularly brutal that they're going to have no contact, or very little contact, with that child until they're 18."
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they → feel → child
One birth mother, Jean, tells us she never wanted to give up her daughter, Tye, for adoption - and describes it as "forced".
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she → tell → it
Her local council says it followed a lawful process.
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it → say → process
Jean was separated from her daughter for 16 years, after Tye was taken into care at 11 weeks' old and then adopted at the age of two.
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Tye → separate → two
Now, with Tye an adult, they are reunited.
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they → reunite → ?
When she turned 18, having struggled with adoption and questions about her identity, Tye looked for her mother on social media.
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Tye → turn → media
"I knew I had a mum somewhere and it wasn't the people I was growing up with," she says - describing her adoption as something that had left her "completely alone" without a "whole chunk of heritage".
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that → know → heritage
When Jean became pregnant, she was looking forward to being a mother.
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she → become → ?
But she had concerns too: "The only thing I knew for certain was that I was disabled, I couldn't look after myself properly, so I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to look after a baby, so I needed help."
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I → have → help
Her local authority at the time, Newham Council in east London, told her such help was not available, she says.
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she → tell → her
Tye was put into foster care, but Jean was able to see her often.
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Jean → put → her
There had been multiple assessments and residential placements as Jean tried to keep Tye.
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Jean → try → Tye
But professionals, including doctors and social workers, ultimately advised the court that Tye needed a stable, permanent family and that Jean could not provide it.
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Jean → include → it
Jean says she fought and "gave it my all" through years of court proceedings.
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she → say → proceedings
She even asked if she could have visiting rights, in a similar way to a parent in a divorce.
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she → ask → divorce
…and 31 more, not listed.
The Aporia
