MORE than 200 newborn babies have been taken into care across Worcestershire in less than a decade - with safeguarding experts calling it "very serious".

Your Worcester News can reveal the number of babies taken away from their parents per year by Worcestershire County Council has rocketed more than 50 per cent.

Since 2007 a total of 231 babies have gone into care within their first 28 days of life, including many less than a week old.

All of whom were judged to be "at serious risk of harm", with the council starting rapid legal proceedings.

The yearly figures have drastically increased over that period, with it standing at 13 in 2007 before a succession of rises took it as high as 43 in 2013.

Bosses at County Hall say for too many newborns the action becomes "essential" because of chaotic home lives which makes intervention crucial to their wellbeing.

Independent safeguarding experts say they are conducting their own probe into the data, admitting it has not surprised them due to the number of serious case reviews they see.

The findings, obtained by this newspaper, come after we revealed how the number of children in care across Worcestershire has rocketed by a third since 2009, to a record high of 716 young people.

In recent years the authority has tightened up its pre-birth work with expecting parents on the social services radar so they can intervene if need be.

Diana Fulbrook, the independent chair of Worcestershire's Safeguarding Children Board, said: "There is an argument that early intervention is better than 'waiting to see' and hoping for the best.

"But clearly it is a matter for concern, we all want children to be settled in a safe environment.

"It's absolutely right that (the council's) pre-birth planning has been tightened up and that's part of the picture, but it is very serious and not surprising, when you see the serious case reviews."

She added: "Large numbers of children going into care is obviously a real problem in terms of the resource implications - but in some ways it's a good new story that these interventions are happening.

"We are doing our own work to look at the trends across the ages."

The council says all the decisions are taken by courts, with parents able to argue the case if they wish.

A spokesman said: "Like many councils, Worcestershire has improved its pre-birth planning for the very small group of children who we judge may be at serious risk of harm when they are born.

"All these decisions about care are taken by the courts, where parents have legal representation and balanced professional assessments can be made in the light of all the facts.

"For very small children it's essential they return to normal family life as quickly as possible, whether this is to their birth family when changes have been made or into another family.

"Our early action makes this much more likely to be successfully achieved."

Two months ago research by the Nuffield Foundation found 25 per cent of newborns taken away are from mothers stuck in a pattern of care interventions, with brothers or sisters already in the system.

The data for Worcestershire is from January 2007 to the end of 2015 – with 31 newborns in the county going into care last year.