A mother from Newcastle has had 17 children taken from her by a local authority over the last 30 years. Charities believe it to be the highest number recorded in England and Wales.

The woman has been pregnant throughout most of her adult life and has given birth each time knowing that the children would almost certainly be taken from her within hours of being born.

Thought to be in her late 40s, she has been unable to keep any of her children, though the reason for them being taken into care is not clear. The children were removed over a 30-year period from the mid-1980s. The situation of the mother, who has not been identified, came to light after the BBC made a freedom of information request to Newcastle city council.

After it issued the figures, the council said that Pause – a project to help reduce the number of children taken into care – is to be extended to Newcastle.

Barnado’s, which is working with the council on the Pause project, said some women’s “absolutely chaotic lives” made it hard for them to seek help. Many were described as being victims of domestic abuse and have been in care, while some are sex workers, use drugs or alcohol or have mental health issues.

Sian Bufton, assistant director of children’s services at Barnardo’s, said: “They’re women who’ve experienced a lot of loss, a lot of trauma, a lot of difficulty in their lives and need some help to live a different life.” One woman who sought help from Newcastle Women’s Aid said she felt judged by social services. “They said I was too upset to look after my child but, of course, I was upset they were going to remove him,” she said.

Neighbouring areas also revealed high figures, with a mother in Gateshead having 10 children taken from her, and in Cumbria, Sunderland and Durham the highest figure for a single mother was nine. Research looking at family court records found that in 2013, 2,018 babies were taken into care at birth or soon afterwards, up from 802 in 2008.

The study, Vulnerable Birth Mothers and Recurrent Care Proceedings, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that between 2007 and 2014 a total of 13,248 babies were removed by the authorities. Bufton said the case of the mother who had 17 children taken was exceptional.

She said: “I think she is an exception, I don’t think anyone else in Newcastle has reached anywhere near that figure and hopefully in the future there will not be any more because we will have been able to deliver this service.

“It is likely she would have had difficulties such as domestic abuse, mental health problems, a chaotic lifestyle, possibly substance misuse. The reason it has got to 17 is because of those sort of factors and because there hasn’t been a service like Pause.”

The Pause project pioneered a model in Hackney to help women caught in a cycle of “repeat removals”, who had lost an average of four, and up to 10, children. It has extended to six other areas – Doncaster, Greenwich, Hull, Islington, Newham and Southwark – and will launch in Newcastle in September.

Elaine Langshaw, service director for Newcastle Women’s Aid, which has helped abused women for 40 years, said: “It is very sad and tragic that one woman has had 17 children removed. We don’t know her circumstances; there are probably lots of complex additional needs.

“There is not one agency who can save or mend women when they have suffered a lifetime of abuse. We have to look really closely at the intervention that needs to put in for each individual woman. It is different for everyone and depends on the levels of violence and abuse and the length of time it has gone on.”

She said the Women’s Aid service, based in the city’s deprived Walker area, was seeing women who had previously attended as children with their mothers. “Their mums have been in crisis; they haven’t stayed safe, there hasn’t been appropriate intervention and therefore they’re back with us now as young mums, adults themselves,” she said.

Newcastle city council said it had taken a “robust approach to gathering and analysing data” and studied good practice from other parts of the country. In a statement it said: “There is nothing particularly unusual about Newcastle’s approach to this issue.

“Each case is dealt with according to the individual circumstances of the family. It would not be appropriate for us to comment on a specific case. Aftercare to mothers who have had a child removed would be dependent on the particular needs of each mother, who may themselves be a vulnerable adult.

“The decision to remove a child is made on a case-by-case basis and efforts are made to support children to remain with their family where this is appropriate. As a last resort the court may decide, in the child’s best interest, to remove them from their parents’ care.”

The Pause project is funded by a private donor and a contribution from the council until March 2018.

• This article was amended on 24 June 2016 to clarify: that the freedom of information request was made by the BBC; that Barnardo’s did not express shock at the figures revealed by the FoI request; that Barnardo’s did not announce the launch of the Pause project in Newcastle; and that the article mostly consists of syndicated copy rather than original Guardian reporting.