A baby taken from his 18-year-old mother hours after he was born must remain in local authority foster care while further enquiries are made, a district judge in Nottingham ruled today.
The baby was born to the teenager, who has just left local authority care, in hospital just after 2am on Wednesday.
He was then removed without the mother's consent after staff at the hospital were shown a "birth plan" prepared by social workers from Nottingham City Council.
But a High Court hearing on Wednesday heard that "on the face of it" social services had acted unlawfully because they had not obtained a court order.
Mr Justice Munby ruled that the baby be immediately returned to his mother, who can only be referred to as "G".
Yesterday, Nottingham City Council began making its application for an interim care order in front of a district judge at Nottingham County Court.
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This story has now been updated