It seems the most dreadful act possible to take a newborn baby away from its mother. And there will certainly be enormous sympathy for the mum involved.

But we all need to be careful not simply to use it as an excuse for criticising social services.

For in a case like this they are damned whatever they do.

The mum in this case has a low IQ, as does her partner. That obviously presents problems. The question is whether they are insurmountable. After all they would not be the first parents to have a low IQ.

The problem is that had social workers left the little baby with her mum and something went wrong or the baby was not cared for properly, then they would be widely condemned.

But inevitably they have been criticised for taking the baby away.

What they have done here is to weigh up the risks and make a professional decision. That is their job and it is far from easy.

The puzzling aspect of this story is that this baby had the love of two grandmothers, both of who had promised to help with its care.

If they had not been available and willing to help the decision to take the little baby away and place with foster parents would have been completely understandable.

But with both of them in support it seems a great shame that some way of allowing the baby to stay with her mum could not have been found.