Northamptonshire agencies respond after the death of a six-week old baby who was smothered who was co-sleeping with an adult

Northamptonshire agencies say they have learned lessons following the death of a six-week old baby after they were smothered by an adult who was sharing the same bed.

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 2021. A criminal investigation is ongoing.

It found there had been “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 that other intervention might not have prevented his death.

His mother had been a victim of domestic abuse, had interaction with 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.

The baby’s sibling was found crying and alone in a car park near his home in 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 over 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 2021.

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.

In the months leading up to the birth, an ex-partner of the mother’s 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.

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.

Northamptonshire Police said it has improved its safeguarding processes since the baby’s death and has 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 “focussed on how best to ensure detailed descriptive language is used when sharing information about the child’s voice and lived experience.

She added: “We will continue to work collectively with partners to develop and run the safer sleeping campaign to raise awareness of the risks of co-sleeping and encourage safer sleeping practices for babies, providing the families that we work with the most up-to-date advice and guidance around safe 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.