‘I can’t sleep, I’m terrified’: the rise in mothers having their babies taken away within days of giving birth in England

Charity finds ‘inhumane’ system is forcing women to defend themselves in court, sometimes from their hospital beds, while in fear of having their newborn child taken from them

Ella* gave birth to her daughter in a London hospital last week. Days later, still in the same busy ­hospital, she appeared via a laptop in a court hearing, challenging an emergency order from the council, which wants to take her baby into care.

“I’m not eating properly. I can’t sleep because I’m terrified. I just want to go home with my baby,” she told the Observer this weekend. “I don’t feel they are giving me a chance.”

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