A report commissioned by the Department for Education looking into the issue of repeat referrals to children's services departments found that, after six years, more than half (55 per cent) of a sample of children who were referred to children's services in 2010/11 returned to the system at least once.
Across local authorities the probability of children being re-referred varied from between seven per cent and 63 per cent.
The study found that a series of individual characteristics were associated with an increased likelihood of re-referral. These were: younger children; females; disabled children; children initially stepped down as needing no further action; and children referred initially for abuse or neglect, parental disability or illness, family in acute distress, family dysfunction, or socially unacceptable behaviour.
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