CYP Now - Better support for ‘repeat removal’ families could reduce number of children in care, report finds

Targeting support at mothers who have already had one or more children removed from their care can reduce looked-after children figures each year and lead to substantial long-term savings to the UK economy, analysis has found.

Pause works to support mothers who have previously had a child removed. Picture: Tanya Volkova/Adobe Stock

Evaluation of a programme, which offers specialist support to families where there have been repeat removals of children, resulted in a reduction of an average of 14 infants entering care per council area each year.

If scaled up England-wide this would see the number of children going into care cut by 2,174 a year.

The evaluation of targeted support being offered to mothers by the charity Pause also found that for every £1 spent there was a saving to the UK economy of £4.50 over four years and £7.61 over 18 years.

It points out that almost half of newborns taken into care are born to mothers who have already experienced children being taken into care.

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