A national child safeguarding review has called for urgent changes to how authorities support parents whose children are taken into care, warning that child removal alone increases risks to future babies. The review, published Thursday following the death of baby Victoria Marten, emphasizes that «destructive cycles of harm are to be interrupted» by focusing on parents, not just the child.
Baby Victoria died in January 2023 in a tent on the South Downs while her parents, aristocrat Constance Marten, 38, and her partner Mark Gordon, 51, a convicted rapist, were on the run from authorities. The couple had fled to prevent their newborn from being taken into care, a fate that had befallen their four previous children. Victoria's remains were found two months later in allotments in Brighton.
Marten and Gordon were sentenced in September to 14 years in jail after being found guilty in July 2025 of manslaughter, child cruelty, concealing birth, and perverting the course of justice. The trials spanned six months each. Judge Mark Lucraft condemned their «arrogance» and «neglect of the most serious type».
Pattern of Removal
The review revealed Victoria's birth «was the last within her family of a rapid series of pregnancies, births and removals into care that by the time she was conceived had become a repeating pattern with devastating consequences». The couple moved five times between 2017 and 2023, during five pregnancies, «with each move coinciding with escalating safeguarding concerns».
The review noted the couple's «persistent reluctance to engage» with authorities. Factors included domestic abuse and Gordon's rape conviction. The «successive removal» of their children «may have reinforced their perception of harm caused by children's social care, making the concealment of Victoria feel subjectively 'rational'», the review found.
Critical Lessons
Panel chairman Sir David Holmes acknowledged the findings are «hard to hear and harder still to action». He emphasized a «critical lesson»: «keeping children safe by removing them with just cause from their parents only serves to protect those children. It does not address the root of the problem, and it does not prevent the same set of circumstances from happening again. Indeed, it may increase the risk of harm for the next child, not yet born, not yet even conceived.»
The review stated: «The absence of co-ordinated support following care proceedings left Constance Marten and Mark Gordon isolated and unsupported, increasing the risk to their children.» Authorities «needed to contemplate the prospect of Victoria being conceived and born well in advance, to have a better chance of engaging more productively with her parents», it concluded.
Urgent Recommendations
The panel called for national guidance on safeguarding babies, including content on vulnerable babies, concealed pregnancy, and pre-birth planning. It recommended safeguarding partners collaborate with adult services to «develop, implement and resource effective parental engagement strategies» to reduce children entering care.
The review also proposed strengthening requirements for registered sex offenders to report pregnancies to police, with potential imprisonment for non-compliance. Holmes said: «Whereas the death of baby Victoria wasn't predictable, her conception arguably was.»
Government Response
The Department for Education is consulting on establishing a Child Protection Authority, with the consultation closing in March. The government has introduced the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill and is investing £2.4 billion into the Families First Partnership programme for early family support.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: «Victoria's life was cut devastatingly short by those who should have been caring for her – and it is right that justice has been served to her parents.» The spokesperson added: «Our landmark Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill represents the most significant reform to child protection in a generation.»
Official statistics show 5,360 under-ones were subject to child protection plans in England on March 31 2025, including 3,930 babies under one year old and 1,430 unborn infants. More than a third of cases involving serious harm or death reviewed by the panel involve babies under one.
Holmes reflected on honoring Victoria's legacy: «Maybe one of the ways that we can honour Victoria's legacy is also thinking about how we make the safeguarding system better for vulnerable babies in the future.»
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
