Figures released by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) show a total of 13,536 applications made from March 2018 to April 2019.
This compares with 14,221 for the same period in 2017/18, a difference of 685 applications.
The drop continues a trend on the previous year, with 14,599 applications in 2016/17.
And in December last year, care applications fell below 1,000 for the first time in three years, with the service receiving only 975 applications.
In the two previous years, applications rose by more than 1,600 each year.
Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas, said: "The sustained, small fall in care applications is most likely due to concerted edge-of-care support programmes in an increasing number of local authorities and the government's focus on understanding why demand peaked in 2017.
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