New guidance over newborn care proceedings to be trialled
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Guidelines on helping professionals tackle the “acute pain and stress” of removing newborn babies from their mothers at birth as part of care proceedings are to be trialled.
The guidance is being developed due to the intense emotional challenges experienced “by all involved in cases where a baby is removed from their mother at birth – both family and practitioners”, according to Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (FJO), which is developing the guidance.
Too often the removal of a newborn baby is not properly planned and there is currently a lack of guidance on how to make the process easier for families and professionals, the researchers add.
Where there is advice it is too often weighted towards midwives and other health professionals rather than social workers.
The babies are removed in cases where it is felt they cannot remain safely in his or her parents’ care.
“Given the vulnerability of infants and their mothers in the immediate postnatal period, issuing care proceedings at or close to birth is fraught with moral, ethical and legal challenges – and without effective, timely assessment and support during pregnancy, intervention at birth is likely to be poorly planned and can result in instability for the new baby and huge distress for family members,” states a Nuffield FJO report on pre-birth assessment and infant removal at birth.
“Despite the complexity surrounding this practice, there is scant reference to either pre-birth assessment or removals at birth in national statutory guidance.”
During the development of the guidance it is to be tested by councils and health trusts in eight areas, which are not being named by researchers.
This will take place over six months and will look at a minimum of 30 child protection cases involving newborn babies.
A team of researchers from Lancaster University and the Rees Centre at the University of Oxford will work closely with health and social care professionals and families during this trial.
Latest figures show that the number of newborn babies being removed from the parents for care reasons has more than doubled in recent years.
In 2007/8 care proceedings relating to 1,039 newborns were issued. But by 2016/17 this had increased to 2,447.
Further research by Nuffield FJO found regional variations in the removal of newborn babies from parents.
From 2008 to 2016 Yorkshire and Humber and the North West recorded the highest rates of care proceedings concerning newborns in England, while London and the South East recorded the lowest rates.
The biggest increases in such cases in England were in the North East, North West and the South West.
“Over the past decade there has been a sharp rise in infants in care proceedings, with marked regional variation in the number of cases,” said Nuffield FJO director Lisa Harker.
“In this context, the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory is working in partnership with local authorities to understand the reasons behind these increases and variations, and to support the development of good practice.”
