Hard decisions - Child protection

In the past, social services faced criticism for not moving fast enough to protect children from abuse or neglect, but figures for the babies taken from their family each year raise the question of whether the other extreme is now the case.

According to the Children’s Minister, 136 infants under 12 months are taken into care annually “when alternative means of protection have been exhausted”. That qualifying clause only makes sense when we know what the alternative means of protection are. The suspicion is that they are few in options and thin on resources.

If, for example, a baby is born to a homeless addict, the chances of her getting a residential rehab programme where she can keep her child with her are slim.