Almost 60 babies have been taken into care through court orders in Greenwich in the past decade.

A freedom of information request has revealed that, since 2008, 59 babies have been subject to a section 31 care proceeding within a week of their birth.

A S31 is a court order allowing children to be taken from their parents and placed into the care of the local authority – Greenwich Council.

Responsibility is split between the council and the baby’s family.

Orders such as these are only made if a court is satisfied the baby could come into harm or potential harm if the child remained solely with its parents.

In the last year there has been an increase in the number of these orders being carried out, with 10 in total made in 2017/18, the highest annual number in the past decade.

The year before there were seven, and in 2015/16 there were none.

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All babies subject to a S31 were placed into foster care, but the council said it could not comment on which were later adopted.

A spokesman for Greenwich Council said: “Each case is considered individually and any increase is due to more children meeting the threshold for care proceedings to be initiated.

“Without reviewing each individual case we cannot comment on which babies were subsequently adopted.”

Councils have a duty to support children in the borough who do not have parental guardians, acting as “corporate parents”.

Neighbouring Bexley has not carried out any S31 orders, according to its response for the same time-period.