government says any decision to remove a child at birth is in their best interests, the study‘s author says both mothers and their children are being failed. fiona the children are the first thing i think about when i wake up, the last thing i think about before i go to bed. abby, not her real name, has had all five children removed from her. her story, like many in her position, is a complicated one. but it wasn't always this way. three years ago, she was a busy mum. it would be school run, back, sports, back, scouts, back, horse riding, back, piano, back. i loved it, i loved having to run around after them. but in a short space of time, abby suffered with post—natal depression, a marriage breakdown and her business collapsed. struggling with poor mental health, she started to drink. i went from living a fairly luxurious life in a nice a—bedroom house to sleeping in a car park stairwell with nothing. i literally had the clothes i had my back. whilst living on the streets, she became pregnant and just as social services had removed her older four children, they also put her newborn baby into care. it was the worst pain ever, not seeing my childr