In the pictures of cm with he'd other children she looks clean, happy, well kept etc etc. Yet we hear from before victoria they lived in filth and left places disgusting etc. What went wrong I wonder?
MOO and I haven't worked in this area for a few years. However this was a common cycle. Once a baby/child/children are removed from the parents, there is often a downward spiral of mental health, having more children in the desperation to be able to keep them, and worsening mental health (and sometimes substance abuse) after each time. The end result looks something like this case, although usually without the physical running away, media, etc.
Often where SS deem there to be a person at risk to the unborn baby (usually a partner who has been convicted of a sex related crime) the baby is removed. Even if to the outside the family look clean, healthy, happy, with their life together etc. Even sometimes wealthy or at least financially secure. The mother would be able to keep custody of the baby if she cuts off all contact with the partner, and sometimes they allow an hour or two supervised access at a center. The mother may have to do courses and parenting classes to prove she is aware of the dangers her ex partner presents and if she is seen to stick up for him in any way or say anything positive about him, even if she leaves him, this is usually seen as a red flag / held against her.
I saw it time and time again, and the downward spiral is harrowing. Sometimes the mother would refuse to leave her partner as his crime was so long ago or she felt it didn't justify the extreme measures social services were using. Sometimes the mother would leave the partner and do the things required and still end up losing the baby. The first time you'd meet the mother you'd meet a happy, well kempt, 'normal' looking woman. The next time there would be mental health issues. The next time there would be more severe mental health issues, often unemployed or relying on benefits, issues at home such as uncleanliness, hoarding, living in refuges etc. Things that were never present before might begin cropping up - drinking, smoking, substance abuse, relationship breakdowns with family and friends.
The same women would come onto the postnatal ward, and you'd get to know them as it was their 3rd/4th/5th/6th baby. Each time their story was sadder, and each time they would leave without their baby.
This is something I suspected could be the case here, but upon reading that multiple children were taken at once rather than it starting with her first baby I didn't comment as it is more likely to be neglect or something else.
Anyway sorry for waffling, MOO and all that, and as I said I've been out of perinatal care for a few years so maybe (I desperately hope) things are better for these families these days. I suspect MH issues here are worse than they appear on the surface - MOO
