Asylum seeker baby Asha's advocate says she has been banned from seeing Asha's mother by immigration police, as fears mount she is about to be taken away.
Twelve-month-old Asha was taken to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane suffering burns she received from boiling water while in detention on Nauru.
Although she has recovered, doctors and nurses at the hospital are refusing to discharge Asha unless she is provided with a safe home.
Former Nauru detention centre caseworker and family advocate Natasha Blucher says when she spoke to the baby's mum on Saturday morning, something was wrong.
"I called mum at 9am, and she told me that about 7am, some immigration officers had come to her room and told her she was leaving," Ms Blucher told AAP on Saturday.
She said Asha's mother was told she would need to leave with plain-clothes officers waiting for her downstairs and that she needed to go quietly.
"When asked, 'where are you taking me', they declined to tell her, and said it was neither the community, Nauru or a detention centre," Ms Blucher said.
But at 8am, a doctor came in and told Asha's mum that she was safe, as he would not be discharging her unless he was satisfied a safe home was waiting for Asha.
That was the last Ms Blucher heard from the mother.
When she called at 3.15pm, she says she was told by immigration officers that Asha's mum could no longer make or receive calls.
"The Serco officers said they had been informed by border police that she was not allowed any calls - not even from her lawyers," Ms Blucher told AAP.
"To hold someone incommunicado like that to me says you're about to do something that's not in their interest," she said.
Refugee advocates have since surrounded the hospital in hope of blocking any officers who attempt to take Asha away.
GetUp Queensland spokeswoman Ellen Roberts said about 200 protesters were outside the hospital, and would maintain a 24-hour presence until they received confirmation about the family's plight.
Human Rights Law Centre lawyer Daniel Webb confirmed the firm was denied access when they tried to speak to Asha's mother on Saturday.
"When we called, we were advised by a Serco guard that they have been directed by Border Force to prohibit all access today. At this time we can't contact our client - Asha's mother - and she can't contact us," he said in a statement.
An Immigration Department spokesperson would neither deny nor confirm if the baby was being moved, only that she was still at hospital.
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