Child protection officers in West Yorkshire were “actively considering” taking Shannon Matthews into care days before the nine-year-old schoolgirl was kidnapped, sources close to the police investigation have said.

The insiders said that social services in Leeds had been closely monitoring the family right up to the day Shannon was abducted on her way home from a school swimming lesson in Dewsbury on February 19.

They were considering issuing a care order to take her away from her mother on the grounds that her personal welfare might be at risk.

“They were actively monitoring the family very, very closely and taking Shannon into care was being considered,” a senior official with knowledge of the police inquiry said this weekend.

During the 24 days of Shannon’s disappearance, some relatives claimed that she had been hit by Craig Meehan, her mother Karen’s live-in boyfriend. The couple denied the claims.

Since West Yorkshire police rescued her from a flat belonging to Michael Donovan, Meehan’s uncle, nine days ago, Shannon has been looked after by foster parents after child protection authorities obtained an emergency care order.

They are said to have concerns about her “dysfunctional family” and whether she will be properly looked after if she does go back to the family home.

Unusually in such a case she has not been reunited with her mother, who has been allowed only brief supervised visits to see her and is barred from any physical contact.

Donovan, 39, appeared at Dewsbury magistrates court last week charged with kidnapping and false imprisonment. His flat was less than a mile from where Shannon lived.

When police broke into the dingy one-bedroom property they found Shannon hidden in a compartment underneath a divan bed. Donovan was hiding in a similar compartment next to hers.

He has reportedly told detectives that Karen and Meehan, 22, may have been involved in the girl’s disappearance.

A West Yorkshire police spokesman said that Karen, who has seven children by five fathers, had been questioned by police last week but was not being treated as a suspect.

A senior police officer said: “Donovan has been claiming that other members of the family were involved. These may be just lies, but we would not be doing our job properly if we did not investigate these claims thoroughly.”

Shannon’s grandfather, Gordon Matthews, said last week that she should not go back to her mother’s care.

“We just don’t want Shannon going back to that house. She can stay with us. I don’t think that Karen and Craig are ready to look after her properly,” he said. He added that Meehan in particular was not fit to look after her. “Craig is like a tiny child. He’s so immature,” he said.

Shannon continues to be questioned about her ordeal but is said to have survived physically unscathed.

Police sources say they expect developments in the case over the next few days. A final decision on her future will be made by social services once police have finished their investigation.

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