Inside Leeds Family Court, where difficult decisions to remove children from their parents are made every day

But it is not Maria’s first experience of the family court system - the infant is her fifth child to be taken into care and she is one of thousands of women trapped in a heart-breaking cycle of getting pregnant and having her children removed.

Behind the grandeur of the terrazzo tiles and Romanesque columns of Leeds Magistrates’ Court, difficult and upsetting decisions are made by judges to remove children from their parents every day.

Every year, thousands of children are taken into care at court hearings conducted behind closed doors. After decades of calls for greater scrutiny of family court decisions, journalists can now report from proceedings at courts in Leeds, Cardiff and Carlisle as part of a new pilot scheme. The aim is to shine a light on secretive hearings and increase accountability.

Stories of abuse and neglect are commonplace and of the 12 million children living in England, more than 80,000 are in care.

These courts deal with public and private disputes involving local authorities and parents, respectively. Both can be reported as long as the identities of those involved remain anonymous.

A mother, clearly in distress paces up and down the corridor, muttering angrily under her breath about the courts. But inside the courtroom, there is an air of calm professionalism. Lawyers in suits represent the baby, both parents and the local authority.

Judge Nancy Hillier is hearing the case. The baby’s father has not taken part in any of the ten hearings or given instructions.

The local authority is Bradford Children and Families Trust, set up in April due to failures by Bradford Council to improve children’s services following an 'inadequate' Ofsted rating in 2018.

“This is not a rubber stamping exercise,” says Judge Hillier. The Trust must prove to the ‘threshold’ the baby is at risk of ‘significant physical, emotional harm and neglect’ before a permanent care order can be made.

The baby was taken into care the day he was born prematurely at 32 weeks and placed with a foster family who adopted his older half brother.

The court hears the tot has nearly died ‘several times’ due to a heart condition. He needs ‘highly skilled and responsive parents’ to keep him safe.

Judge Hillier said: “The trust is seeking a placement order today. Nothing else will do. The mother realises the writing is on the wall and her son is going to be adopted.

“She is fully aware of this being the final hearing but finds it too painful to attend.

“She doesn’t seek to stand in the way, but she can’t consent.

“This is a very, very sad case indeed because this is mum’s fifth child and none of her children are in her care. There has been a cycle of having children and having them removed that she wants to break.

"Whether it is her fifth child or her fifteenth it doesn’t matter. She is still his mum.”

Judge Hiller, said when Maria fell pregnant two months after her daughter was taken into care in 2021, there were ‘green shoots’ and the couple attended pre-birth assessments with social care staff.

Maria, who has learning difficulties, told social workers she wanted to keep the baby.

But when they visited the couple’s home it was cluttered and smelt ‘strongly of cannabis’. They missed appointments and failed to answer the door or return phone calls. Both have refused contact with their son since March.

Francesca Massarella, barrister for the Trust, says the couple’s living conditions were ‘dirty and unhygienic’.

“The house is so cluttered they sleep on a sofa bed downstairs because they are unable to access their own bedroom,” she said. There are concerns about drug abuse and criminality.

Mark Stout, the father’s barrister, says he has not engaged ‘very much’.

James Hargan, for the mother, says she doesn’t oppose the order.

Granting the order, Judge Hillier says: “I have come to the clear conclusion nothing else will do for this baby other than adoption. It is the only realistic option.

“I hope he and his brother thrive in the care of the potential adopter and I hope the mother is able to access support and make the changes in her life to help break the cycle of pregnancy and adoption.”

Another case dealt with that day concerns an autistic teenager with a history of suicidal thoughts, who was taken into care in January after claiming she was assaulted by her dad.

The fifteen-year-old was living with her father and stepmother after the breakdown of the relationship with her mother.

Her father denies the assault and says he has ‘washed his hands of her’.

Documents reveal the girl’s dad and stepmother were struggling to deal with her behaviour and ‘complex needs’.

She started self-harming and threatening to take her own life by taking her sibling’s ADHD medication or injecting sterilising tablets used for her braces because she was ‘deeply unhappy’.

Elish Porter, representing Bradford Children and Families Trust, tells the court neither parent wants her home.

District Judge Jillian Bell makes an interim care order so she can stay where she is and a final care plan can be drawn up.

It is unlikely that she will ever return home.