Teenage Mother Threw Baby At Social Worker

A teenage mother whose newborn baby was taken from her by social workers has been banned from seeing her son after she threw him across the room during a fight with the boy’s father.

The 18-year-old, known only as G, also narrowly missed hitting the little boy’s head when she hurled a mobile phone charger at her former partner.

The fight occurred while the parents were visiting the baby, who is currently in foster care, during a session supervised by social workers from Nottingham City Council.

The baby, known as K, had been taken away from the mother just two hours after he was born because the local authority feared she was not in a fit state to look after him.

But he was later returned to her when a judge at the High Court ruled he had been removed “unlawfully”.

The baby was taken from his mother again after a second judge declared the baby should be placed in foster care.

She was initially allowed “frequent” contact with the baby but the same High Court judge ruled yesterday that she should not have any contact with the child.

Mr Justice Munby, a High Court Family Division judge, gave his reasons for temporarily banning contact between mother and baby yesterday.

The judge, who had initially criticised Nottingham City Council for taking the baby away from his mother hours after his birth and without the authority of a court order, said it was now up to her to demonstrate “that she can put K’s needs before her own problems”.

According to a report by one of the social workers who was present at the supervised meeting, the father first threw the mobile phone charger at the woman. She then threw it back at him, just missing the head of the baby.

She then grabbed the child and forcefully thrust him into a baby bouncer before taking him back into her arms.

When one of the social workers said “give me the baby”, she threw the child at her from about 18in away.

The social worker observed that she did this “without due care of where he was actually going to land and without supporting his head”.

Shortly before the fight, the woman had been ordered by a judge to go on a residential course to assess her abilities as a parent but she had given up after three days.

The judge transferred further hearings to Nottingham County Court and said the woman would have to take on board the council’s concerns about her behaviour.

He added she would have to “demonstrate as best she can that she is going to behave herself if contact resumes”.

Mr Justice Munby stressed that further hearings at the county court would be held in private, as normal in child care cases, although he might find it appropriate to announce the eventual outcome.

The council has not so far sought to stop the father’s contact with the baby.

In a recent interview, the woman insisted she was “a good mother” and denied reports that she suffered from mental health problems.