A mother whose baby was removed from her shortly after giving birth, and eventually managed to get him back, will be speaking to journalist Victoria Derbyshire tomorrow about her ordeal.

The interview will be looking at a concept called ‘risk of future harm’, also sometimes described as ‘a child being likely to suffer significant harm’, which is a test or threshold used by social services to remove children from parents who they feel may not be able to parent adequately or who pose a threat to their child in some way.

Although there is currently no set definition for what future harm is exactly,  S.31 of the Children Act 1989 sets out the legal basis or the ‘threshold criteria’ on which a Family Court can make a Care or Supervision Order in respect of a particular child and includes the sentiment that a child must be “suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm”. ‘Significant Harm’ is described in The Children Act 1989 as “ill-treatment or the impairment of health or development”. (For a more detailed explanation, please see our post on the topic).

Victoria’s programmes are on air every weekday between 0900 & 1100. You can catch this interview online, on BBC Two, the BBC News Channel and on Victoria’s Facebook page.