Very young babies returning home from public care: pathways to permanence

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Infants are far more likely, than any other group of children, to become subjects of care proceedings(Broadhurst et al., 2018). Yet knowledge about infant pathways into and beyond family courtproceedings is scant. Very recent research has for the first time, identified divergent legal outcomes;approximately 50% of infants are adopted, but a substantial proportion of infants are eitherreturned to birth parents or extended family and friends' networks, at the conclusion of careproceedings (Broadhurst et al., 2018). This project will focus on the latter group, addressing pressing 3stakeholder questions about the quality of contact for these babies during care proceedings,support for transition home or to family and friends care and the extent to which the care plan forthe baby supports their developmental recovery.The Children Act 1989 provides a framework within which a court can make an order authorisingthe interim or permanent removal of the infant from his or her parents. Issuing care proceedingsfor infants has been described as a severe form of intervention in family life by some judges incourts in England (e.g. R (G) v Nottingham City Council (2008)). Several commentators have arguedthat highly intrusive action is taken by the State, in the absence of positive support to build familyresilience (Featherstone et al., 2014). The removal of infants has been found to be stronglyassociated with women's repeat appearances in the family courts (Broadhurst et al., 2017). Yetothers would argue that leaving infants for prolonged periods in abusive or neglectful householdcircumstances is equally unacceptable, risking longer-term developmental harm (Ward et al., 2012).Adding to this, parents involved with care proceedings, report feelings of disempowerment,oppression, and being treated in a way that is contrary to Human Rights legislation (Ward et al.,2012). On all sides of debate however, there is a consensus that the topic of reunification - with aspecific focus on babies - is hugely under-researched and that further research would strengthendecision-making and practice, whilst at the same time bringing balance to political and policydebates about infants in public law proceedings. Questions about developmental recovery havereceived new emphasis in the context of the Children and Social Work Act 2017. Local authoritiesand the courts are now required, not just to consider the suitability of placements, but also theextent to which permanency plans support the developmental recovery of the child.This project will build on my own substantial scholarship in child protection, evidenced by a numberof publications concerning infants subject to child protection procedures, to address pressingquestions about infant return home from public care. I will also build on current work I amcompleting for the NSPCC on child reunification, and my extensive experience as an independentconsultant to the Department for Education and several local authorities. In addition, the projectwill draw on the data resources of the new Nuffield Family Justice Observatory to access valuablepopulation level data and produce completely new analyses and complement recent research withinthe Centre for Child and Family Justice regarding supervision orders and special guardianship(Harwin et al., 2016-2019).