Baby custody gag ruling *draconian*

Press Association – 

A High Court judge gave social workers permission not to tell a pregnant mentally-ill woman that they planned to take her child into care at birth.

Mr Justice Keehan had concluded that there was a risk that the 24-year-old woman would harm herself and her child if she learned of the plan.

The judge had made the ruling in April - after an application by a local authority.

But he had imposed a reporting restriction temporarily barring journalists from revealing his decision.

And detail of the case has emerged following the birth of the baby - a little girl - in early May.

The judge did not identify the woman - in a written analysis of the case published today - but said the local authority involved was North Somerset Council.

"I am satisfied that if the mother were to learn of the plan to remove her child at birth there is a very real risk she would harm herself and a very, very real risk that she would cause physical harm to her baby," the judge had said.

"In particular it is highly likely that she would not co-operate with the professionals involved with her, would seek to avoid contact with them and would conceal that fact that she was in labour."

Mr Justice Keehan accepted that he had made a reporting restriction order which was "draconian".

But he added: "In light of the risks I found to the mother and to the baby if the mother had knowledge of the plan, it was vitally important and an absolute necessity that there should be no reporting of this case before the birth. After birth there would be no reason and no necessity to prevent the reporting of this case, at least, in an anonymised form."

The judge said the woman had schizophrenia and had been detained under mental health legislation a number of times.

He said the woman's mental health had deteriorated following the child's birth.

Mr Justice Keehan said the child had been taken into interim care - after another judge granted an emergency protection order - within hours of her birth.

He added: "I am wholly satisfied that there are extraordinarily compelling reasons for keeping (the little girl), for the moment, in public care and that there are reasonable grounds for believing she is at risk of suffering significant harm if she were to be returned now to her mother's care."

Decisions have yet to be made about the child's long-term future.

The judge said a relative was being assessed as a possible carer.

He said social workers thought that they knew the identity of the girl's father and DNA testing would be carried out.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/baby-custody-gag-ruling-draconian-160030682.html