Centre for Child and Family Justice Research. Book Launch - International Perspectives on the Removal of Babies at Birth
Wednesday 10 June 2026, 5:00pm to 6:30pm
Venue
Online, Lancaster, United Kingdom, LA1 4YD - View MapOpen to
All Lancaster University (non-partner) students, Alumni, Applicants, External Organisations, Families and young people, Postgraduates, Prospective International Students, Prospective Postgraduate Students, Prospective Undergraduate Students, Public, Staff, UndergraduatesRegistration
Free to attend - registration requiredRegistration Info
Register via MS Teams
Event Details
JOIN US FOR THE LAUNCH OF OUR NEW BOOK! International Perspectives on the Removal of Babies at Birth, Bristol University Policy Press. ONLINE: 5PM - 6.30PM via MS Teams, 10th of June, 2026.
An international collection edited by Professor Karen Broadhurst OBE (Lancaster University), Professor Emily Keddell (University of Otago), Dr Linda Cusworth (Lancaster University), Professor Lucy Griffiths (Swansea University), Claire Mason (Lancaster University) and published by Bristol University Policy Press.
Book Launch Programme
- Hear from the editors for an overview of the book
- Listen to contributors from a range of international contexts discuss the challenges of care proceedings at birth, alongside progressive alternatives
- Take part in a Q&A with the editors and contributing authors
About the new book
This international collection brings together, for the first time, diverse perspectives on the distinctive legal, ethical, and procedural challenges of child protection at birth across several high-income countries. Moving beyond dominant policy and research narratives which focus on timely permanence for infants in out-of-home care or adoption, the volume interrogates the normative foundations of contemporary safeguarding practices at birth.
Contributors examine the reliability and consistency of high-stakes decisions made at, or shortly after, birth - often under conditions of urgency and uncertainty - and scrutinise the treatment and rights of mothers in pregnancy and the immediate postpartum period. The collection also situates these practices within broader socio-political contexts, highlighting patterns of disproportionate infant removal in settler-colonial contexts and their implications for justice, equity, and state power.
The book surfaces excellent examples of innovative practice but ultimately calls for a fundamental rebalancing of child protection at birth where policies and practice secure infant wellbeing and safety, alongside rather than at the expense of parents’ legal and procedural rights.
Elements of an international transformation agenda are set out which include building collective capital among parents, providing preventative, therapeutic services which are independent of the state’s child protection function, protecting the postpartum period, and situating infants more firmly within their relational networks and resources.
Speakers
University of Otago
Emily Keddell is an academic and social policy expert (Aotearoa New Zealand) known for her work in child welfare, family violence, and social justice. She is a professor at the University of Otago, where her research focuses on how state systems—particularly child protection services—affect vulnerable families. Keddell has contributed extensively to debates on child protection reform in New Zealand, often emphasising the importance of equity, ethical practice, and the impacts of structural inequ
Lancaster University
Karen Broadhurst is a Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Lancaster University. Karen was awarded an OBE in 2026 for services to child and family justice research, and conferred to the Fellowship of the Academy of Social Sciences in 2020. Karen is recognised nationally and internationally for high quality, high impact research that has catalysed measurable change in policy and practice, with a specific focus on women and children involved with children’s social care and the family cour
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