Exclusive These children face an uncertain future if the government gets its way, write Michael Gordon, Nick McKenzie and Richard Baker.
Samuel arrived into the world chubby; a miniature wrestler who, eight months on, has just produced his eighth tooth. Born at the Royal Darwin Hospital, his parents had him baptised as soon as they could and earmarked him for great things.
The dream is that their boy will become an Australian doctor or lawyer, but Samuel is unlikely to realise it. He is one of 37 babies the Turnbull government wants to put on a plane, as early as next week, and send to Nauru's offshore processing centre. 
Also facing the prospect of removal are about 160 adults, including Samuel's parents, and about another 50 older children. All were brought back to Australia from offshore centres in Nauru or Manus Island, mostly for medical treatment.
The group is party to a High Court case where the Human Rights Law Centre is challenging the government's policy of sending uninvited boat arrivals to life in limbo on two small islands run by foreign governments.
The decision by the court's full bench will be handed down on Wednesday morning and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has signalled his intention to move quickly to send the asylum seekers to Nauru, saying this will reduce the number of children in detention on the mainland to just seven.
"This is a sleight of hand," said the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Professor Gillian Triggs.
She said the babies and children would be simply transferred from mainland detention to an environment certain to do even more damage.
A team from the commission visited many of those who face removal to Nauru at the Wickham Point centre near Darwin before Christmas and Professor Triggs said a medical team reported that they had never come across such traumatised children. "But they are partly traumatised because of the constant threat that they'll be going back to Nauru," she told Fairfax Media.
Mr Dutton's office said there would be no comment in the lead-up to the High Court decision. If the government loses the case, it's possible the people could be sent to Christmas Island where they would be kept in detention. So distressed are many of the parents at these events that they agreed to Fairfax Media publishing the pictures of their babies.
Supporters of offshore processing say conditions for those whose claims are yet to be finalised have improved dramatically since the decision by the Nauru government to allow asylum seekers to freely come and go from the fence-ringed centre.
But the asylum seekers who spoke to Fairfax Media from their present home, the Wickham Point centre near Darwin, say the island itself - a barren outcrop the size of Melbourne airport - is their jail.
Samuel's father and mother are devout Christians from Iran who spent a year on Nauru before complications prior to Samuel's birth forced the government to send them to Darwin Hospital.
Samuel's father, Matthew (not his real name), fears for his son's development if sent to Nauru, where Australian doctors say health problems are endemic. "There is bad hygiene and facilities and life is very limited for a baby. There is no security. Women can get raped. There is not enough education or proper medical facilities," he said.
Samuel's mother describes Nauru as "the end of the world".
"It is like hell," she said.
Asked about the prospect of Samuel spending at least some of his childhood on the island, his mother falters, then starts quietly crying. "I can't talk about his future," she said.
Along with the 37 babies set to be removed from Australia are at least 15 women whose lawyers allege have suffered sexual assault or harassment while previously in offshore detention. Others have serious medical conditions.
The mother of an 11-month-old girl suffers from type one diabetes, a condition that is hard to manage on Nauru.
The father of an infant boy about to have his first birthday told Fairfax Media he fears his wife's mental health issues will be exacerbated by conditions on Nauru.
Being locked up in Darwin is bad enough, he said.
For this father, the best escape from his families' grim predicament is the brief, daily moments he shares with his son.
"When he wakes up in the morning, it is the best. He has a smile on his face."