AN ill toddler could be put up for adoption, despite the efforts of her devoted mother to care for her herself, following a court ruling yesterday.

The girl, referred to in court only as B, was left with heart and breathing problems after being born 13 weeks prematurely, which means she must be fed through a tracheostomy tube, the Appeal Court, in London, heard.

Her mother, who suffers from mental health problems, has done everything she can to look after her daughter, but Gateshead Council said she could not cope and the girl could come to “significant harm” in her care.

The council said that looking after a child with a tracheostomy at home was “extremely demanding”.

In October, Newcastle County Court refused to make a care order in the case, with Judge Tony Lancaster saying the mother had “acquitted herself well” in caring for her daughter.

The local authority appealed against the decision and yesterday the Court of Appeal overturned the earlier decision – meaning the mother must fight all over again at another court hearing to keep her child.

The Appeal Court heard that B’s parents met over the internet and their relationship had not been an easy one. The mother has “a substantial medical and psychological history”, and the father “also has psychological and personality problems”.

However, since the birth, the mother had learnt to deal with the difficult task of changing her tracheostomy tube and, in his ruling last year, Judge Lancaster paid tribute to her in extremely challenging circumstances.

Nevertheless, Lord Justice Wall overturned the earlier ruling on grounds that Judge Lancaster had failed to mention in his ruling a “significant body of professional evidence” in favour of the council’s case.

Lord Justice Wall, sitting with Lord Justice Thorpe and Lord Justice Patten, “with reluctance”

ordered a complete re-hearing of the council’s care order application before a different judge.

He said he was confident the new judge who hears the case “will not lose sight of the mother’s powerful desire to care permanently for B, and will only make a care order and an order placing B for adoption if satisfied that such a course is in B’s best interests.”