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Social workers taking pre-emptive action to remove children from families suspected of putting them at risk must have enough evidence to support their decisions, a solicitor has warned.

The warning came after a court ruling against a local authority that had taken a child into care because another child had previously been harmed by the same parent.

Prominent human rights solicitor Bernadette Livesey said social workers and other agencies must communicate their concerns to each other about a child at risk and collect appropriate evidence before the case reached the courts. "If social services don't believe a child should be with its parents because of the risk, it is up to court to evaluate the evidence and make a finding on the risks presented."

Her warning follows a ruling at the European Court of Human Rights last week that Rochdale social services department had violated the rights of an American woman with Munchausen syndrome by proxy when it took away her baby at birth.

Rochdale Council removed the woman's baby in May 1998 after discovering she had been found guilty of a misdemeanour and put on probation in America for inappropriately giving her first child laxatives.

The UK government was ordered to pay the woman and her British husband £7,700 each for breaching their rights to a family life and to a fair court hearing. The government now has three months to decide whether to appeal.

Livesey said the case should cause social workers, the lawyers who advise them, and the courts to look more objectively at the evidence of risk in child protection cases.

However, Association of Directors of Social Services children and families committee co-chairperson Jane Held said local authorities should not immediately act on the ruling because the implications of the case might be very specific.

She said: "I would caution anyone against taking precipitate action because it is too early to evaluate the case and what the long-term implications may be for other similar cases."