Six-week-old baby was smothered in bed while co-sleeping with adult, report finds
A six-week-old baby died after being smothered by an adult who was sharing the same bed, an independent report has found.
A review on behalf of the Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Partnership found the baby boy had injuries “not inconsistent” with co-sleeping when he died in November 2021.
Criminal investigations into the boy's death are continuing.
The report, which does not identify the boy or his family, highlighted “several examples of insufficiently robust or delayed responses and insufficient or ineffective management oversight” with his family in the months leading up to his birth.
But it adds that further intervention may not have prevented his death.
The agencies involved insisted that lessons had been learned since the youngster's death.
The report outlines how the baby's mother had been a victim of domestic abuse, was known to the police and social workers, and led a chaotic lifestyle.
A urine sample taken from her after the baby’s death showed evidence of drugs in her system and a hair strand test later showed substance misuse over a 14-month period.
Among the report's other findings were:
The baby’s 16-month old sibling was found crying and alone in a car park near the family's home in October 2020. But it was not recorded as a crime of neglect, despite the mother telling police she had left the child alone.
Despite an extensive history of several years with agencies, none knew that the baby’s mother was pregnant with him before his half-siblings told people at their school. He was born two weeks later in October 2021.
In the months leading up to the birth, an ex-partner of the mother breached a restraining order and started banging on the front door of her home.
A month later, there was an anonymous referral from the NSPCC that the mother had been shoplifting with her other children, taking drugs and was pregnant.
Social workers believed his mother had concealed her pregnancy but there was “no evidence that anyone discussed or shared any hypotheses about why the pregnancy was concealed and the potential impact on [the baby] accordingly,” independent consultant Karen Perry found.
The review found social workers involved in the case already had “high” caseloads, but an Ofsted inspection last October noted that they have since reduced across the county.
What do the authorities involved say?
Northamptonshire Police said it had improved its safeguarding processes since the baby’s death and had senior staff working within the county’s Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), where it said overall processes have been “refined”.
Det Supt Joe Banfield, the force’s head of Protecting Vulnerable People, said: “We will continue to work closely with all partners working across child safeguarding, supporting the campaign to raise awareness around safer sleeping.”
Yvonne Higgins, Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board’s chief nursing officer, said it had “refreshed” its guidance over concealed pregnancies and was “focused on how best to ensure detailed descriptive language is used when sharing information about the child’s voice and lived experience".
She added it would keep working with partners to develop the safer sleeping campaign, and raise awareness of the risks of co-sleeping.
Julian Wooster, chair of Northamptonshire Children’s Trust, said: “The trust has already implemented the learning from this safeguarding practice review, and we are working closely with our partners to reduce the likelihood of these situations arising in the future.”
Another report in March found failures in the ways agencies failed to piece together risks posed to another baby who died in June 2020.
That baby died after co-sleeping with their mother, who had been drinking heavily and taken cocaine the night before.
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