What's best for the baby?

He was a baby taken into care hours after he was born to a teenage mother. Social workers who say they're acting in the child's best interests, not that unusual in itself. What's alarming about yesterday's case is that Nottingham social services didn't have a care order, or the legal authority to take the child.

The boy was born in Nottingham just after 2am yesterday. At 4am he was taken without his 18-year-old mother's consent after social workers said she should not be allowed unsupervised contact.

The High Court heard her case at midday.

Mr Justice Munby: "On the face of it, what was done was without lawful authority. The professionals involved in this case should know better.

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

46 minutes after that ruling, baby and mother were reunited. In Nottingham today, the City Council wouldn't comment because the matter was still before the courts. It's now applying for an interim care order to remove the boy.

Yesterday the court heard the mother, who's recently left care herself, had a troubled childhood and suffers from mental health problems. But the judge said he hadn't seen any evidence that the baby was at risk of immediate attack or harm from the mother.

Lawyers for the mother in Nottingham say she'll fight the council for custody - and has launched a claim for damages against them.

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