In theory taking a child into care is not a punishment.

Curiously my late wife (a social worker) used to say that one of the most difficult things about a decision to take a child into care was that you knew that doing so would cause harm to the child, but you had to decide whether not taking them into care would do more harm.

Her mother (who had also been if not a qualified social worker then at least in charge of a home for children in care) was sure that she herself had done untold good, but you know what mothers in law are like.   

I think my brother in law who was a forensic social worker (whatever that means, but he worked on at least one very high-profile murder case) declined to express a view.