A teenage mother who was reunited with her newborn baby yesterday thanks to the intervention of a High Court judge was today facing a second attempt by social services to remove her child.

Nottingham City Council childrens services have applied for an 'interim care order' which would mean the baby, born in the early hours of yesterday morning, being placed with foster parents. The case is currently being heard by the magistrates court in the city.

Solicitors for the mother said she would oppose any move to have the day-old baby taken away for a second time, and would also seek damages.

Yesterday, a judge ordered that the baby boy, born at 2am that morning and removed from his 18-year-old mother at 4am, should be returned to her immediately.

The baby was taken into care without her consent. The mother was taken into care herself after running away from home. She is also thought to suffer mental health problems. She is being referred to in court as 'G' as neither she nor the baby can be named for legal reasons.

The judge, Mr Justice Munby, said that social workers had “on the face of it” broken the law by insisting the mother and child be separated without first obtaining a court order. Officials in the case, who are employed by Nottingham City Council, “should have known better” than to go ahead without following proper procedures.

Ian Wise, speaking for the mother after the High Court hearing, said the baby was born healthy, but staff at the hospital intervened after being show a ’birth plan’ drawn up by social services. The plan said there should be no contact between mother and child without supervision by social services.

Although it is not unusual for social services to remove newborn babies from their mothers if they suspect the child is in danger, it is very rare for a solicitor to intervene in this way on her behalf and with such speed.

Campaigners also say courts often side with social workers, but in this case the judge took the unusual step of saying he had seen nothing to suggest the mother posed a risk to the child.

“What appears to have happened is the local authority has stolen someone’s baby and a judge has ordered them to give it back. Many family court lawyers simply roll over when cases like this come in. Here a feisty lawyer weighed in on behalf of his client,” said John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley and a campaigner on the issue of newborns being taken into care.

The mother and baby were reunited 46 minutes after Mr Justice Munby made his order shortly after 12 noon.

Stuart Luke, the mother’s solicitor, said she will fight to keep her baby. “She now faces the prospect of an application by the local authority social services for an interim care order, which will be vigorously contested,” said Mr Luke.

That hearing is due to take place this morning before local magistrates.

At the High Court, Mr Justice Munby ordered social services and the NHS trust to “ take the necessary steps to reunite mother and baby forthwith” as long as the mother remains in hospital. He described the situation as ’most unfortunate”.

“There is no suggestion in the documents shown to me so far that the risk the mother is posing is a risk of exposing the child to immediate physical attack and physical harm,” the judge said.

The judge said doctors and midwives on the ward were not to blame and could not have been expected to understand that proper procedures had not been followed. They acted as they did when faced with “a bit of paper”, the judge said.

A baby can only be removed lawfully if a police constable is taking action to protect the child, or there is a court order in place.

“On the face of it, what was done was without lawful authority. Responsibility for that lies with those who took the decision in circumstances where they were not given the appropriate legal advice. The professionals involved in this case should know better,” the judge said.

“You cannot remove children, short of immediate murderous intent except by lawful means, which means either by a police officer or court order.”

The number of newborns being taken into care has increased in recent years. Social workers say it is because they are now quicker to intervene when children are at risk. But critics say they are under pressure to increase the number of adoptions, and babies are easier to find new homes for than older children.

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