Care applications exceed 10,000 for first time
Neil Puffett
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Applications for children at risk of abuse or neglect to be taken into care have hit a new year-on-year high.
Figures released today by the Children and Family Court Advisory Service (Cafcass) show that 886 care applications were made last month (March).
This brings the total annual figure for April 2011 to March 2012 to 10,199, a 10.8 per cent increase on the figure for 2010/11 of 9,202.
It is the first time the annual figure has exceeded 10,000 while applications received between May 2011 and February 2012 were the highest ever recorded for the individual months.
January 2012 saw the highest ever number of care applications recorded in an individual month, with 912 applications.
Anthony Douglas, Cafcass chief executive, said the high figures for the year have tested the resilience of staff and systems at Cafcass.
He said: “While Cafcass gathers this information and is of course impacted by the scale of this increase, all agencies need to realise we have to change the way we work collectively if the most vulnerable children in the country are to continue to receive strong public services in these tough times.
“Having said that, this rise shows that all agencies are working more quickly to ensure that children are removed from deeply damaging households where many have been for some time and are showing a lower tolerance for poor parenting.”
Sue Kent, professional officer at the British Association of Social Workers (BASW), said the figures highlight the fact that child protection work is facing a “major crisis”, with referrals increasing but cuts preventing social workers from doing their jobs properly.
“Our members report that the majority of their time is being spent on paperwork, rather than with the children they are hoping to protect, as the admin staff in their team have disappeared,” she said.
“The government has trumpeted about protecting frontline social workers from being made redundant, yet by axing support staff it has simply turned social workers into administrators.
“Spending on preventative services is also being cut, so rather than intervening with families who are struggling at an early stage, they are being allowed to flounder until the care system has to intervene to protect the children.
“Removing a child from their family should always be a last resort, and it is heartbreaking to consider that while families may need support, there is simply not the funding and resources there to give them a chance to change.”