Commissioning: Infants in care proceedings

A rise in the number of newborn babies subject to care proceedings was highlighted in the Nuffield Foundation's recent report, Born into Care. This study found that between 2007/08 and 2016/17, 27 per cent of all children subject to proceedings were infants under the age of one (47,172), and of this group, 16,849 were less than one week old - an average increase of 11 per cent per year.

The report suggests that increasing financial hardship for families, the impact of a reduction in preventative services and a defensive, risk-averse social work culture may be factors in this trend. As early help services, which may have held these children within their birth families, have borne the brunt of funding cuts, the rise in infant care proceedings places has increased pressure on statutory services, especially care placements and family contact.