A disabled Keighley couple have spoken of their heartbreak after their baby daughter was taken into care.

Social workers took the little girl from Airedale Hospital before the 18-year-old mother was able to take her home.

Bradford Council social services did not believe the couple were capable of caring for the baby properly.

For the past few months the couple have been allowed supervised access, but later this month the council plans to put the baby up for adoption.

The mother said: "We've been seeing less and less of her because it's getting too hard. We're not going to see her again after August.

"Our lives just fell apart when they took her. We thought they would just come in and offer us support."

The mother insists her daughter would not have been neglected.

"We never had a chance to prove it. They tried to make out I had learning disabilities. I went to a normal school and have never been statemented as special needs."

The father, who has learning difficulties, claims his daughter was taken away because he cannot read or write.

He told the Keighley News: "I'm not that disabled. I've coped with babies before -- I worked in a nursery. I know how to feed and change them."

The couple are being supported by Change, a national charity which campaigns for the rights of disabled parents.

Rachel Taylor, from Change, said the couple's experience is common. "This is going on up and down the country," she added.

"Most people with learning disabilities tend to have their children taken off them. Once they're adopted the parents don't see them again until they're 18.

"Social services would rather take the child away than implement support. As a charity we just want help to enable us to look after our children."

Bradford Council insists children are not taken away from disabled parents until a comprehensive assessment is made.

Cath Tunstall, director of children's and family services, said a specific legal procedure is followed through the courts.

She said that if children were at risk of "significant harm" and their health and development would be impaired because of the care they were receiving, the council must apply to remove the child to a safe place.

She said: "A comprehensive assessment is made which includes all aspects of parenting capacity, family relationships and historical and medical evidence.

"We would also assess whether parents have strong family, friends and community support networks."

Finally the court may give joint parental authority to the parents and council, or allow the child to be adopted and have no further contact with its parents.

The council says it always works to ensure parents are properly represented through the process, and their opinions and rights are taken into account.