糖心破解版

Authors: Bachar Alrouh (Oxford University), Karen Broadhurst (糖心破解版), Leslie Humphreys (University of Lancashire), Lucy Griffiths, Laura Cowley, Laura North, Grace Bailey, Amy Mizen (all Swansea University).

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of Cafcass (England) for safe sharing of anonymised data and colleagues at the SAIL Databank, Swansea University, for enabling access to secure anonymised data. The contribution of both has allowed the team to produce population profiling data as part of the work of the COMFT study, and to publish statitical releases where these are in the public interest.

Contact: k.broadhurst@lancaster.ac.uk

Funder: This work is supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (Grant Ref: ES/Z503575/1). The work has been completed as part of initial profiling of child populations as part of the COMFT (Child Outcomes for Mothers Facing Trial) study.

New evidence on infants and newborns in care proceedings in England, 2007/08–2024/25

In 2018, the first Born into Care report (Broadhurst et al., 2018) provided national evidence on the scale and rising incidence of care proceedings involving infants in England, with a particular focus on proceedings issued very shortly after birth. The study identified infants as the age group most likely to be involved in care proceedings and highlighted a substantial increase in proceedings involving newborns.

The Born into Care programme has continued to examine these trends, including through subsequent research on newborns in urgent care proceedings in England and Wales (Pattinson et al. 2021). This new analysis updates and extends that evidence using the latest available data, providing a longer-term picture of care proceedings involving infants aged under one year and newborns aged under two weeks in England, from 2007/08 to 2024/25.

The findings show that the rate at which infants are involved in care proceedings remains substantially higher than it was at the beginning of the period. However, the longer time series also reveals an important change in the more recent trend: rates increased considerably over the earlier years, reached their highest level around 2019/20, and have since declined - although they remain concerningly high.

Infants continue to have the highest rate of involvement in care proceedings

Infants aged under one remain particularly vulnerable to becoming involved in care proceedings. Despite making up a relatively small proportion of the child population, infants have a substantially higher rate of involvement in care proceedings than children in older age groups.

In 2024/25, 4,872 infants aged under one were subject to care proceedings in England. This equates to 85 infants per 10,000 children aged under one, or approximately 1 in every 118 infants.

The longer-term increase is substantial. Using a consistent approach across the latest analysis, the rate increased from approximately 52 infants per 10,000 in 2007/08 to 85 per 10,000 in 2024/25. This represents an increase of 64% – nearly two-thirds.

However, this increase has not been continuous. The rate rose during the 2010s and reached a peak of 94 infants per 10,000 in 2019/20. Since then, it has generally declined, reaching 85 per 10,000 in 2024/25. The latest rate is therefore below the recent peak but remains substantially higher than at the beginning of the period.

Figure 1: Rate of infants aged under one subject to care proceedings in England, 2007/08–2024/25: comparison of the original (2018) and latest (2026) analyses

The comparison with the original Born into Care analysis is reassuring. During the years covered by both analyses, the two series follow very similar patterns and produce closely corresponding rates. This indicates that methodological changes (as detailed below) between the earlier and latest analyses have had relatively little effect on estimates for infants aged under one.

The comparison also provides a clearer view of the longer-term trajectory. The principal story is not one of a continuing year-on-year rise. Rather, there was a substantial increase in infant care proceedings over the earlier part of the period, followed by a further increase to a peak in 2019/20 and a modest decline thereafter. Nevertheless, the rate in 2024/25 remains nearly two-thirds higher than in 2007/08.

Proceedings involving infants remain concentrated very close to birth

Within this wider picture for infants, an important feature of the Born into Care evidence has always been the concentration of proceedings in the earliest days of an infant's life.

The latest analysis shows that this remains a striking feature of care proceedings in England. In 2024/25, more than half (52%) of all infants subject to care proceedings entered proceedings within the first two weeks of life.

Newborns account for a growing proportion of infant care proceedings

The concentration of infant care proceedings very close to birth has become more pronounced over the period covered by the Born into Care research.

Using the definition adopted in the latest analysis - newborns aged under two weeks - newborns accounted for 39% of all infants subject to care proceedings in 2007/08. By 2024/25, this had increased to 52%.

This means that more than half of all infants involved in care proceedings in England in 2024/25 entered proceedings within the first two weeks of life.

The increase in the proportion of infant proceedings involving newborns is important because it indicates that, within the wider population of infants entering care proceedings, proceedings have become increasingly concentrated at the very beginning of life.

Newborn rates increased substantially, but have fallen from their recent peak

The rate of newborns subject to care proceedings has also increased substantially over the longer term.

Using the current definition of newborns as aged under two weeks, the rate was approximately 20 per 10,000 live births in 2007/08. It increased markedly during the following decade, reaching 42 per 10,000 in 2016/17.

The rate continued to increase thereafter, reaching approximately 49 per 10,000 live births in 2019/20 and 2020/21. Since then, there has been an overall decline, although with some year-to-year fluctuation. In 2024/25, the rate stood at 44 per 10,000 live births.

The latest data therefore do not indicate that newborn care proceedings are currently at a record high. Rather, they show a substantial longer-term increase, followed by some reduction from the levels reached around 2019/20 and 2020/21. Nevertheless, the rate in 2024/25 remains more than twice that observed in 2007/08.

Figure 2: Rate of newborns subject to care proceedings in England, 2007/08–2024/25: comparison of the original (2018) and latest (2026) analyses

Note: The original 2018 analysis defined newborns as aged under one week. The latest analysis defines newborns as aged under two weeks. Rates are expressed per 10,000 live births.

Understanding the methodological differences between the original and latest newborn estimates

Figure 2 also illustrates an important methodological difference between the original Born into Care study and the latest analysis.

For the original study, the research team had direct access to Cafcass data containing the precise date of birth of each child. This made it possible to calculate age in days and to identify newborns aged under one week.

Subsequent Born into Care research has accessed Cafcass data through the SAIL Databank. To protect confidentiality, the precise date of birth is not available in these data; instead, researchers have access to the week of birth. This means that age at the start of proceedings cannot be calculated to the same precision as in the original study.

To ensure that infants who were genuinely aged under one week were not excluded because of this rounding, the definition of a newborn was widened to under two weeks. This approach necessarily captures some infants who were older than one week when proceedings began.

This change in definition explains much of the difference between the two newborn series shown in Figure 2. The orange line should therefore not be interpreted simply as an increase from the blue line. They measure slightly different age groups: the original analysis captures those aged under one week, whereas the latest analysis captures those aged under two weeks.

Importantly, this is not a new methodological change introduced for the 2026 update. The under-two-week definition and SAIL-based approach were already used in the 2021 Born into Care: Newborn babies in urgent care proceedings in England and Wales study (Pattinson et al., 2021). That report focused primarily on newborns and published findings covering 2011/12 to 2019/20.

The analysis underpinning that work also included earlier years using the same approach, although those results were not all published because the report's primary focus was on newborns and urgent care proceedings. The current analysis draws on that existing work and extends the time series through to 2024/25.

For this reason, where this report describes change over time using the latest analysis, comparisons such as 39% to 52% and the newborn rate from 2007/08 to 2024/25 are based on the consistently defined under-two-week measure, rather than combining the under-one-week estimates published in 2018 with the under-two-week estimates used subsequently.

What the two analyses tell us together

Despite the difference in definition, the original and latest analyses tell a broadly consistent substantive story. Both show a marked increase in care proceedings involving children very shortly after birth during the earlier part of the period.

The longer time series now adds an important qualification to the findings reported previously. Infant rates did not continue increasing indefinitely. They reached their highest levels around 2019/20–2020/21 and have since fallen somewhat.

At the same time, proceedings very close to birth remain a prominent feature of infant care proceedings: 52% of infants subject to proceedings in 2024/25 entered proceedings within their first two weeks of life. The combination of a persistently high newborn rate and the concentration of more than half of infant proceedings within the first two weeks of life remains an important finding for policy and practice.

Policy and Practice Implications

There have been many welcome cross-sector practice developments since the publication of the first Born into Care report for England in 2018. This first publication and subsequent in-depth qualitative analysis of practice across local authorities and health trusts (Mason et al., 2022; Broadhurst et al., 2022) established care proceedings in infancy as a distinct field of inquiry and served to shift the normative foundations of child protection in pregnancy and at birth. The co-designed national Best Practice Guidelines published by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (Mason et al., 2023) aim to steer cross-sector practice towards timelier help in pregnancy and following birth, based on relational, family-inclusive practice and transparent decision-making.

Further important initiatives are underway, including new guidance to be rolled out across the courts in England and Wales, led by the Judiciary, which aim to reduce urgent care proceedings at birth. . Such developments are hugely welcomed as they represent a substantive shift towards greater procedural fairness for mothers in particular, immediately following birth. Where parents have a longer window to access legal representation and prepare for court, this constitutes a fairer, more transparent legal process (Broadhurst et al., 2022; Broadhurst et al., 2026). Leadership by the Judiciary at a national level is an essential component of a change agenda.

However, this latest statistical release indicates that more needs to be done, because 1 in every 118 babies remain at risk of appearing in care proceedings based on data produced routinely by Cafcass in 2024/2025, and used for the analysis that underpin this report. In addition, local authorities are issuing care proceedings at birth, for a greater proportion of infants (more than half of all infant cases). As yet, the Department for Education’s Family First Programme, though comprising multiple important policy statements has not yet addressed the distinctive challenge of prevention in pregnancy and at birth. The national charity Birth Companions is currently leading the co-design of a national integrated practice framework focused on pregnancy and the first year of life which promises to complement the Families First Programme.

However, all practice pioneers are swimming against a rising tide of social and economic pressures, including the escalating costs of daily living, homelessness, and the growing mental health needs of families. In the face of these challenges, local authorities and partner agencies continue to innovate, adapt and develop new ways of supporting families, but this new statistical release underscores the scale of the challenge and extent to which local authorities still favour care proceedings close to birth for infants at risk.

References

Broadhurst, K., Alrouh, B., Mason, C., Ward, H., Holmes, L., Ryan, M. and Bowyer, S. (2018) Born into care: newborns in care proceedings in England. London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.

Broadhurst, K., Mason, C. and Ward, H. (2022) Urgent Care Proceedings at Birth: time for a fundamental review. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 36 (1).

Broadhurst, K., Keddell, E., Cusworth, L., Griffiths, L. and Mason, C. (2026) Born into Care: International perspectives on the removal of babies at birth. Bristol: Bristol University. Policy Press.

Mason, C., Broadhurst., Ward., H., Barnett, A. and Holmes, L. (2022) Born into Care: Developing Best Practice Guidelines for when the state intervenes at birth. London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.

Mason, C., Broadhurst, K., Ward, H. and Barnett, A. (2023) Born into Care: Best Practice Guidelines for when the state intervenes at birth. London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.

Pattinson, R., Broadhurst, K., Alrouh, B., Cusworth, L., Doebler, S., Griffiths, L.J., Johnson, R., Akbari, A. and Ford, D. (2021) Newborn babies in urgent care proceedings in England and Wales. London: Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.