Birmingham City Council v DS & Anor

Facts

The subject of these care proceedings was a child born on 9 February 2026, aged five months at the date of the hearing. Birmingham City Council was the applicant local authority; the mother, DS, was the first respondent and the child, through the children's guardian, the second. The local authority's concerns centred on the mother's lack of engagement with services, criminality, domestic abuse, violence, substance misuse and a chaotic lifestyle including sex working; her elder children had been removed from her care and were the subject of later placement and adoption proceedings. She had no antenatal or medical engagement, and the child was born with syphilis and withdrawal symptoms attributable to substance misuse. The mother left hospital on 10 February 2026, indicating that she did not wish to care for her baby, and thereafter could not be contacted. The putative father, who does not hold parental responsibility, was regarded as a high risk perpetrator of domestic abuse and had been the subject of adoption proceedings concerning two of his own children. An interim care order was made at a hearing the mother did not attend and the child was placed in foster care. Hair strand and paternity testing were not complied with, the parenting assessment was negative, and the local authority sought final care and placement orders, the guardian supporting that plan.