CYP Now - More children 'made known to social services in first six months of pandemic'

The first six months of the Covid-19 pandemic saw more children referred to children's services who had not previously been known to local authorities, the Association of Director’s of Children’s Services (ADCS) has said.

At the start of the pandemic more unknown children were referred to social services. Picture: Adobe Stock

Between April and September 2020, 284,375 children were referred to local authority children’s services, the ADCS’ latest Safeguarding Pressures report shows.

While this number is a decrease of one per cent on the previous year, local authorities were alerted to more children for the first time, the ADCS says.

It adds that during this period “families who were just about managing pre-pandemic and would not normally come to the attention of social care were now in need of significant help. More children were presenting at a later stage, once issues were complex and entrenched, and then immediately becoming subjects of child protection plans or proceedings.”

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