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City-level estimates; country centres are used where a town cannot be located. Geography: GeoNames and Natural Earth.
| Mother / Alias ↕ | Quick summary ↕ | Outcome ↕ | Jurisdiction ↕ | Year ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autistic Mother In Dublin | Tusla took an autistic mother's newborn son in Dublin after a social worker admitted including 'unfounded' allegations in referrals to mother and baby units; hospital staff called her 'caring, calm and competent'. | Foster Care | Dublin, Ireland | 2026 |
| Foster Teen Mother (Bethel, Alaska) | A judge sanctioned Alaska's OCS for unnecessarily removing a newborn from his mother, a teenager in foster care, finding a supervisor's testimony 'anything but truthful'. | Unknown | Bethel, AK, United States | 2026 |
| Hannah | A homeless mother living in a tent says Child Safety officers took her two-day-old baby from Redcliffe Hospital while she waited for social housing. | Case Ongoing Department preparing an assessment report | Redcliffe, QLD, Australia | 2026 |
| Keira Alexandra Kronvold | A Greenlandic mother in Denmark had her newborn daughter Zammi taken two hours after birth, after a Danish 'parenting competency' test. | Foster Care High court ruled the removal illegal in May 2026; Zammi was still with a foster family | Thisted, North Jutland, Denmark | 2026 |
| Magdalena (Warsaw) | Police detained a Warsaw mother over unserved community service; four days later her four-month-old son died in foster care, and officials then moved to take her newborn. | Baby Died | Warsaw, Poland | 2026 |
| Mykel And Lakeith Ray | Police bodycam shows officers taking the Rays' newborn son from Mykel's arms in her hospital bed hours after birth, over a six-year-old case. | Foster Care Still fighting to get him back | IL, United States | 2026 |
| Nita P. | A Wisconsin couple travelling through Illinois had their newborn son taken by DCFS hours after birth over a drug claim that tests later showed was untrue. | Foster Care Still fighting to get him back | IL, United States | 2026 |
| Sandy Bay Ojibway Mother | A First Nations mother says CFS took her healthy newborn from her room at Portage District General Hospital with no paperwork or explanation. | Case Ongoing | Portage La Prairie, MB, Canada | 2026 |
| Valencia Mother Who Fled | A Valencia mother who had already lost a baby over a cannabis test fled hospital with her newborn to stop social services taking her; police found them 18 days later. | Foster Care Taken into emergency care at under a month old | Valencia, V, Spain | 2026 |
| Briana | An Aboriginal mother in WA says the Department of Communities took her baby when she could not find stable housing: 'They never had an issue with my parenting until I didn't have a roof over my head.' | Foster Care | WA, Australia | 2025 |
| Cree Mother At Hsc Women's Hospital | Hospital social workers seized a Cree mother's newborn at Winnipeg's HSC Women's Hospital within three days, though her aunt and First Nation were arranging housing and kinship care. | Foster Care | Winnipeg, MB, Canada | 2025 |
| Ella (London) | Days after giving birth, Ella appeared by laptop from her hospital bed to fight a council's emergency application to take her daughter into care. | Case Ongoing | London, ENG, United Kingdom | 2025 |
| Esther Lopez-Sanchez | A Mexican mother in ICE detention says DCS kept her US-born daughter after she gave birth while in jail; she had the baby for two and a half days. | Foster Care | Nashville, TN, United States | 2025 |
| Hailey (Missouri) | A 16-year-old in Missouri foster care was temporarily separated from her newborn daughter and moved to a different placement until she agreed to go to a faith-based maternity home. | Case Ongoing | MO, United States | 2025 |
| Ivana Brønlund | Municipal authorities took 18-year-old Greenlandic mother Ivana Brønlund's daughter one hour after birth; a national appeals board reversed the decision six weeks later. | Returned After Court Action Appeals board reversed the removal on 22 September 2025 | Capital Region, Denmark | 2025 |
| Kristen Clark-Hassell | Georgia's DFCS took Kristen's baby 'off my breast in the hallway' after a court hearing, relying on drug tests from a lab later accused of up to 30% inaccurate results. | Foster Care | Savannah, GA, United States | 2025 |
| Marianna | A Hungarian mother says her premature son was kept in hospital for three months with no medical reason and then placed in foster care. | Foster Care | Hungary | 2025 |
| Molly C | When Molly went to hospital after her partner assaulted her, the hospital called WA's Department of Communities and her baby was taken. | Foster Care | WA, Australia | 2025 |
| Mother Before Judge Mary Lou Alvarez | A Bexar County judge ordered a four-day-old baby taken from his mother at a paternity hearing and held at the courthouse before CPS was even notified. | Baby Returned Returned to the mother on 21 October | San Antonio, TX, United States | 2025 |
| Vermont Mother (Aclu Lawsuit) | Vermont's DCF obtained custody before the baby was born, and hospital staff took the newborn before her mother could hold her. | Unknown | VT, United States | 2025 |
| Walidah Burns | After Walidah refused to be induced at Duke Regional Hospital, she was involuntarily committed, had an emergency caesarean and lost her newborn son to Durham County CPS. | Foster Care Still in care a year later | Durham, NC, United States | 2025 |
| Zita And Ravi | Oranga Tamariki took an Indian couple's baby with 39 fractures in 2018 and the mother was jailed; the family says low calcium and vitamin D were the cause. | Foster Care | New Zealand | 2025 |
| Andrew And Lauren Hackney | Allegheny County took a couple's seven-month-old daughter after a hospital stay for dehydration and gave her to non-disabled foster parents; they sued for disability discrimination. | Foster Care | Pittsburgh, PA, United States | 2024 |
| Emma | A first-time South Australian mother says DCP took her baby the morning after a difficult birth, without ever telling her during pregnancy it had concerns. | Foster Care Strict supervised visits; working to regain guardianship | SA, Australia | 2024 |
| Flinders Medical Centre Mother | A confidential review found a baby was taken out of its mother's room at Flinders Medical Centre before child protection workers had authorised the removal. | Foster Care | Adelaide, SA, Australia | 2024 |
| Hawke's Bay Mother (Daughter) | Oranga Tamariki took a young Māori mother's first baby, a daughter, in 2018; after a long battle she brought her home in 2024. | Baby Returned Home after about six years with non-whānau carers | Hastings, HKB, New Zealand | 2024 |
| Laxmi Thapa | A breastfeeding Nepalese mother was arrested and held 20 hours in a police cell, separated from her baby, after hospital staff mistook his blue spot birthmarks for bruises. | Baby Returned Returned after 20 hours; social services found no danger | Basingstoke, ENG, United Kingdom | 2024 |
| Lily Arthur | Jailed in 1967 for being unmarried and pregnant at 17, Lily was shackled to a bed at Brisbane Women's Hospital and her son was taken for adoption; she has taken her fight to the UN. | Adopted | Brisbane, QLD, Australia | 2024 |
| Welsh Baby With Von Willebrand Disease | A baby was wrongly removed for six months over a single bruise after a GP's child protection medical skipped tests; he had a bleeding disorder. | Returned After Court Action Returned after six months | Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom | 2024 |
| Zoe's Mother | Hungarian authorities kept baby Zoe from her poor Roma family, judging the mother 'unfit' because of a limp and controlled epilepsy. | Returned After Court Action Reunited with her family for Christmas | Hungary | 2024 |
| Chanetto Rivers | New York's ACS separated Chanetto from her newborn son for his first week over a cannabis test taken without consent, when cannabis was legal; the city settled. | Returned After Court Action Reunited by a judge; city paid $75,000 plus fees | Bronx, NY, United States | 2023 |
| Chelsey Woodward | A Cree mother says a social worker took her two-day-old daughter at Surrey Memorial Hospital and told her to 'stop wailing'. | Foster Care | Surrey, BC, Canada | 2023 |
| Chloe (NSW) | A young woman who grew up in state care says DCJ took her newborn son because of a conflict between her partner and her mother. | Unknown | NSW, Australia | 2023 |
| Indigenous Quebec Mother | An Indigenous mother says Quebec youth protection took her newborn son in hospital without explanation, after telling her before the birth her home was safe. | Foster Care | QC, Canada | 2023 |
| Jessie (Leeds) | After four children were taken into care, Jessie's fifth baby Freddie was removed at birth under an interim care order; she turned her life around and won him back. | Returned After Court Action | Leeds, ENG, United Kingdom | 2023 |
| Kimberly Smart | A Mitchells Plain mother says social workers forged her signature to sign her premature twins out of Mowbray Maternity Hospital. | Foster Care | Mitchells Plain, South Africa | 2023 |
| Nova Scotia Mother Of Five | Child protection took a Nova Scotia woman's newborn after he fractured his skull in a fall; she disputes the account that she fell asleep holding him. | Foster Care | NS, Canada | 2023 |
| Sheshatshiu Innu Mother (Daughter) | An Innu mother was told to find someone to take her newborn daughter and go to a 90-day treatment program; she asked for the family program where she could keep her baby. | Foster Care | Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, Canada | 2023 |
| Sheshatshiu Innu Mother (Son) | An Innu mother told an inquiry that while a nurse fed her newborn son she was sent outside for a cigarette, and when she came back he had been taken. | Foster Care | Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL, Canada | 2023 |
| Sonja And Philip Hathaway | Police met a First Nations mother and Métis father at Victoria General's NICU to say MCFD had taken their premature daughter, despite their release plan. | Foster Care | Victoria, BC, Canada | 2023 |
| Temecia And Rodney Jackson | Police helped CPS take three-day-old Mila from her parents' home after they chose midwife care for jaundice; the affidavit named the wrong mother. | Returned After Court Action Returned after 22 days when DFPS dropped the case | DeSoto, TX, United States | 2023 |
| Underage Winnipeg Mother (2023) | A video shows a CFS worker taking a three-day-old baby from an Indigenous family at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre despite a safe after-birth plan. | Baby Returned Returned after public protest, about three days later | Winnipeg, MB, Canada | 2023 |
| Grace And Michael Smith | St. Luke's staff mistook Grace's prescribed ADHD medication for methamphetamine, took her newborn son to the NICU and barred the parents; a month-long investigation found no abuse. | Baby Returned Investigation found no abuse | PA, United States | 2022 |
| Sarah Perkins And Josh Sabey | Massachusetts DCF took a sick three-month-old and his brother in the night without a judge's approval after an X-ray showed a small rib fracture. | Unknown | MA, United States | 2022 |
| Winnipeg Mother Whose Baby's Removal Was Live-Streamed | Police carried away a two-day-old girl in a car seat at a Winnipeg hospital under a birth alert; the mother had asked social services for help before the birth. | Placed With Kin Guardianship transferred to her aunt; mother cares for her regularly | Winnipeg, MB, Canada | 2022 |
| Heather Smith | An Ohio mother says she could not take her newborn home because the hospital mixed her up with another patient who tested positive for meth and fentanyl; the baby's own tests were clean. | Foster Care | Zanesville, OH, United States | 2021 |
| Jessica (Brandon) | CFS took a Brandon couple's two-day-old son from Brandon Regional Health Centre after a nurse questioned the father's ADHD and claimed he muttered about shaking the baby. | Baby Returned Returned after about ten weeks | Brandon, MB, Canada | 2021 |
| Mila (Perth) | Child protection removed a young Aboriginal mother's son hours after birth at Perth's largest public hospital because her older child was in care and she was seen as 'non-compliant'. | Foster Care | Perth, WA, Australia | 2021 |
| Syesha Mercado | Former American Idol finalist Syesha Mercado's newborn daughter was taken by Florida child protection at a roadside welfare check, months after her son was removed. | Foster Care | Sarasota, FL, United States | 2021 |
| Baby H's Brother's Mother | A year after 'Baby H' was taken, the same Chilcotin couple's premature son was seized from his incubator shortly after birth, despite BC's ban on birth alerts. | Foster Care | BC, Canada | 2020 |
| Brandon Couple (Michif Cfs) | Michif CFS took a Brandon couple's son at birth because the mother, a domestic violence victim, had pleaded guilty years earlier to failing to protect her daughter; a judge later ordered him returned. | Returned After Court Action Judge ordered the boy returned within three months, at 14 months old | Brandon, MB, Canada | 2020 |
| Crystal And Jarvis Bryant | A Colorado couple's five-month-old was in foster care for 164 days over alleged broken bones before it emerged he had a bone disorder. | Baby Returned Returned after 164 days | Colorado Springs, CO, United States | 2020 |
| Rebecca Hernandez | Alabama DHR took Rebecca's healthy newborn son four hours after birth because of a positive opiate test, which turned out to be poppy seed bread. | Baby Returned Reunited after the test was shown to be a false positive | Huntsville, AL, United States | 2020 |
| Teenage Mother With An Intellectual Disability | NSW DCJ planned months before the birth to take a teenage mother's son at birth and stop her breastfeeding; the Children's Court threw the case out. | Returned After Court Action Back with his mother within days | NSW, Australia | 2020 |
| Baby H's Mother | BC social workers took 'Baby H' from her Indigenous parents 90 minutes after a caesarean at a Kamloops hospital, citing a report of neglect the family says was false. | Foster Care Still in foster care at her first birthday | Kamloops, BC, Canada | 2019 |
| Chicago Couple Who Refused The Vitamin K Shot | A nurse reported a Chicago couple to DCFS and left with their newborn daughter after they refused a vitamin K shot for religious reasons. | Baby Returned Returned after 12 hours | Chicago, IL, United States | 2019 |
| E. (Gitxsan Mother) | Social workers seized a Gitxsan mother's premature newborn at BC Women's Hospital the day after an emergency caesarean; a lawyer fought and the baby was returned. | Returned After Court Action | Vancouver, BC, Canada | 2019 |
| Hawke's Bay Mother (Son) | Police and Oranga Tamariki tried to uplift a 19-year-old Māori mother's seven-day-old son at Hawke's Bay Hospital under a without-notice order; midwives were locked out, but the uplift was stopped. | Baby Returned Uplift stopped; she kept her son | Hastings, HKB, New Zealand | 2019 |
| Josephine Gillan | An actress says Israeli social services took her eight-month-old daughter at night while she was in therapy for postnatal depression. | Unknown | Israel | 2019 |
| Melissa April | Melissa never held her first two babies: both were apprehended at birth under birth alerts; with Sanctum 1.5's support she kept her third. | Placed With Kin First two daughters with her sister; she kept her third baby | Saskatoon, SK, Canada | 2019 |
| Peter's Mother (Jersey) | Jersey's Health Minister applied to take a newborn from his parents on the maternity ward; the Royal Court dismissed the 'draconian' order for lack of evidence. | Baby Returned Removal order refused; baby stayed with his parents | Jersey | 2019 |
| Rachel And Andrew | Oranga Tamariki uplifted a couple's fifth baby from the neonatal unit five hours after an emergency caesarean, citing 'hygiene issues' at home; all their children were taken at birth. | Foster Care | TKI, New Zealand | 2019 |
| Sarah-Jane Poole | A British mother fled to France to stop her son being taken at birth because of teenage depression; French social services found she posed no risk. | Baby Returned Kept her son after fleeing to France; removal avoided | ENG, United Kingdom | 2019 |
| Gina Hodgkins | Seven police and two social workers took a six-week-old with birth bruising from his mother; he was later diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. | Baby Returned Returned after five months | ENG, United Kingdom | 2018 |
| Huu-Ay-Aht Mother | MCFD took a Huu-ay-aht mother's daughter three days after birth; a judge ordered the baby returned two months later to live with her mother in a Nation-supported home. | Returned After Court Action Returned after almost two months, to a Nation-supported home | Port Alberni, BC, Canada | 2018 |
| Irish Mother (Tusla Emergency Order) | Gardaí and social workers forcibly removed a one-day-old girl from her breastfeeding mother at an Irish maternity hospital under an emergency order made without the mother being heard. | Foster Care | Ireland | 2018 |
| Rebecca Sanders And Justin Johnson | A Miccosukee police officer took two-day-old Ingrid from Baptist Hospital in Kendall while her mother was breastfeeding, using a tribal court order the grandmother obtained. | Returned After Court Action Returned after a tribal court hearing four days later | Kendall, FL, United States | 2018 |
| Carla Andrews And Craig Stillwell | A three-month-old with a brain bleed went into emergency foster care for nine months until her parents proved she had Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. | Returned After Court Action | United Kingdom | 2017 |
| Cs And CT's Granddaughter (NT) | Grandparents told the NT royal commission welfare workers took their Aboriginal granddaughter from hospital the moment she was born, without warning or interpreters, and moved her interstate. | Foster Care Living interstate; grandparents may visit | NT, Australia | 2017 |
| Kirklees Baby's Mother | Kirklees Council took a week-old baby from hospital after misleading a judge; the High Court found it breached the family's human rights and ordered damages. | Returned After Court Action Home after about three months | ENG, United Kingdom | 2017 |
| Mauricia Ibáñez | Social services in Burgos took 64-year-old Mauricia Ibáñez's IVF twins less than two months after birth. | Foster Care | Burgos, Spain | 2017 |
| Ashish Pareek's Wife | New Jersey DCPP placed an Indian couple's two-month-old in foster care, alleging shaken baby syndrome; the family says he slipped and hit a TV stand. | Foster Care | Jersey City, NJ, United States | 2016 |
| Chloe (England, Four Sons) | A care leaver had all four of her sons removed at birth or soon after; all were fathered by the same violent man who once tried to kill her. | Unknown All four sons removed | ENG, United Kingdom | 2016 |
| Jessica Battiato | A Berks County couple's three-month-old was taken into state care after scans found 20 fractures; the parents say a medical cause was missed. | Unknown | PA, United States | 2016 |
| Newcastle Mother Of 17 Removed Children | A Newcastle mother had 17 children removed by the local authority over 30 years, many taken after birth; charities say women like her need help, not repeat removals. | Adopted 17 children removed over 30 years | Newcastle Upon Tyne, ENG, United Kingdom | 2016 |
| Irvine Mum | North Ayrshire social workers took a mother's son three hours after a caesarean; a sheriff later found the social worker 'disliked' her and the evidence was plainly wrong. | Returned After Court Action Returned after seven months | Irvine, SCT, United Kingdom | 2015 |
| North Ayrshire Mother | Social workers took a baby three hours after his caesarean birth; a sheriff overturned the order, finding the evidence 'unsubstantiated' and possibly 'fabrication'. | Returned After Court Action | SCT, United Kingdom | 2015 |
| Sara Gordon | Massachusetts DCF took a 19-year-old mother's daughter two days after birth because of her intellectual disability; federal investigators found the state violated her civil rights. | Foster Care State moving to terminate parental rights at the time | MA, United States | 2015 |
| Stacie Cottle | A Spanish hospital and police seized a British mother's day-old daughter, claiming she was too old to be a newborn, and refused to release her until a DNA test. | Case Ongoing Held pending a DNA test (two weeks at the time of reporting) | Vélez-Málaga, Andalusia, Spain | 2015 |
| Worthing Baby's Mother | A baby was separated from his parents for almost a year after Worthing Hospital staff wrongly concluded he had been shaken; a judge found no-one had harmed him. | Returned After Court Action Returned to mother after almost a year | Worthing, ENG, United Kingdom | 2015 |
| Annie Bertram | North Tyneside social workers took Annie's six-day-old son Huw into foster care with a plan for adoption; she fought and he came home at nearly nine months old. | Returned After Court Action Came home at nearly nine months old | North Tyneside, ENG, United Kingdom | 2014 |
| Coventry Mother Of Nine | After eight children were taken into care, a Coventry mother secretly gave birth at home and fled; she was caught registering her son under a false name. | Foster Care All nine children in local authority care | Coventry, ENG, United Kingdom | 2014 |
| Lev Tahor Teenage Mother | Police at Calgary airport helped Chatham-Kent children's services apprehend a 17-year-old Lev Tahor mother and her five-month-old daughter under an Ontario order. | Foster Care | Chatham, ON, Canada | 2014 |
| Sarah Markham | A Florida mother lost custody of her newborn son when a doctor sent her to hospital over malnourishment and she did not go straight away; she regained custody five months later. | Returned After Court Action Regained custody after five months | FL, United States | 2014 |
| Tiffany Langwell | Hospital staff called Riverside County CPS when Tiffany left hospital against advice the day she gave birth; her baby was taken the next day and returned a week later after clean drug tests. | Baby Returned Returned after a week | Riverside, CA, United States | 2014 |
| Tonita Rogers | A Riverside County social worker took a three-day-old baby from her mother's breast in a hospital room without a warrant, only because her siblings were already in care. | Baby Returned Returned 5 to 10 days later | Riverside, CA, United States | 2014 |
| Alessandra Pacchieri | An Italian woman sectioned in Essex had her baby delivered by court-ordered caesarean under general anaesthetic; the baby was taken by Essex County Council and placed for adoption. | Adopted | Essex, ENG, United Kingdom | 2013 |
| Baby J's Mother (Staffordshire) | Staffordshire social workers took a six-hour-old baby from his married parents under an emergency protection order; the father's video of the removal was cleared for publication. | Foster Care | ENG, United Kingdom | 2013 |
| Cora | Cora believes a birth alert led an Alberta social worker to serve an apprehension order at Rockyview General Hospital four days after her son was born. | Baby Returned | Calgary, AB, Canada | 2013 |
| Anastasia Zavgorodnyaya | Finnish social services took a Russian-born mother's four children, including her week-old newborn, after an injury her daughter says happened at school. | Foster Care | Vantaa, Finland | 2012 |
| Baby G's Mother (Nottingham) | Nottingham social services took an 18-year-old's son two hours after birth without a court order; the High Court returned him the same day, then a judge ordered him into care. | Foster Care Interim care order after an illegal first removal | Nottingham, ENG, United Kingdom | 2012 |
| Maricyl Palisoc And Charles Wilton | Peel Children's Aid threatened to take a month-old baby from parents with cerebral palsy unless an 'able-bodied attendant' cared for him around the clock. | Case Ongoing Threatened removal; baby still at home at the time | Mississauga, ON, Canada | 2012 |
| Daisy Bram | Butte County took a nursing newborn and his toddler brother for four months after their parents' arrest for growing cannabis. | Baby Returned Returned after four months | CA, United States | 2011 |
| Neecha Dupuis | A nurse at The Ottawa Hospital warned that CAS would take Neecha's baby if he tested positive for cannabis; at discharge she was told she couldn't leave because CAS had 'red-flagged' her. | Baby Returned Kept her baby after an advocate intervened | Ottawa, ON, Canada | 2011 |
| Verna Joseph | Security guards restrained a breastfeeding mother at King George Hospital and took her three-week-old daughter in public view, then she was sectioned without being told. | Baby Returned Returned after six days | Ilford, ENG, United Kingdom | 2011 |
| Elizabeth Mort | Social workers and police took Elizabeth's newborn daughter from home for five days after a hospital opiate test picked up poppy seeds from an everything bagel. | Baby Returned Returned after five days | New Castle, PA, United States | 2010 |
| Kathleen Rogers | Social workers and security took Kathleen's three-day-old son while she was breastfeeding at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre; the agency later admitted she posed no threat. | Returned After Court Action Regained custody after three months in court | Winnipeg, MB, Canada | 2010 |
| Audrey Redman | Vernon Jubilee Hospital refused to release Audrey's newborn son in 1972 until she and his father found a home; it took them 10 days. | Baby Returned Returned after 10 days once they found a rental | Vernon, BC, Canada | 1972 |
| Jude Hudson | Hidden at Kedesh Maternity Home at 15, Jude Hudson had her daughter taken at birth in 1969 for forced adoption; she is applying to Victoria's redress scheme. | Adopted Historic forced adoption | Kew, VIC, Australia | 1969 |
| Lily McDonald | At 16 Lily McDonald was jailed, made a ward of the state and sent to a Brisbane Sisters of Mercy home where her newborn was taken. | Adopted Historic forced adoption | Brisbane, QLD, Australia | 1967 |
| Marion McMillan | Sent away at 17 to a Salvation Army mother and baby home in 1966, Marion begged staff to let her keep her son, but he was taken for adoption. | Adopted | Newcastle Upon Tyne, ENG, United Kingdom | 1966 |