Innovative councils can help end rise in care applications
Derren Hayes
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
The record monthly rise in care applications in August continued the upwards trend that first began in early 2014.
The quickening pace of growth this year has seen the head of the Family Division Sir James Munby warn of an impending "crisis" in the care system, with the courts and care services unable to cope with demand (see Analysis). What is behind the rise is unclear. Munby suggests three possible reasons, two of which focus on local authority practice: that they are becoming more adept at finding child abuse; and that the standards they are judging cases by have become more demanding.
This cuts to the heart of the debate: is the rise a reflection of societal issues - greater levels of deprivation, family abuse and parental problems - or a shift in how child protection services and professionals respond to struggling families? Munby dismisses the first of these, saying it is implausible that rates of child abuse have risen at the same rate as care applications, instead focusing on local authority behaviour.
Child protection experts say two key factors over the past five years must be considered: deep cuts to early intervention budgets and services, and ministers publicly questioning social workers prioritising keeping families together over taking children at risk into care.
These are national issues, but figures from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) highlight significant variation in the number of applications made by different local authorities. The most recent annual data shows that 102 of England's 152 councils saw a rise in their rate of care applications in 2015/16. For example, Barnsley's rate rose from 13.6 per 10,000 children in 2014/15 to 23.3; Blackburn jumped from 28.2 to 39; Dorset increased from 7.5 to 15.3; and South Tyneside from 14.7 to 28.9.
As well as identifying areas where applications have risen sharply, the figures reveal the success that 47 councils have had in bucking the trend. For example, Leeds has seen its rate of care applications fall from 14.2 to 10 per 10,000 children between 2011/12 and 2015/16. Doncaster dropped from 17.4 to 11.2 over the same period, while Islington fell from 18.7 in 2014/15 to 15.1 in 2015/16. All have developed specific programmes aimed at tackling the causes of care applications being needed - Leeds uses a city-wide family group conferencing service; Islington has targeted early help funding at those on the edge of care; and Doncaster has implemented the Pause approach to prevent children being taken into care at birth.
Cafcass cautions that local circumstances need to be fully understood when interpreting the figures. However, the variation does suggest that different approaches at a local level are playing a key part in the numbers of children entering the care system.
Ministers and children's leaders should be championing those areas that have developed ways to work more effectively with families to divert children away from the care system in a safe way. This should include sharing best practice and pairing up those with high and low application rates on a local and regional basis. Otherwise, Justice Munby's prediction that 20,000 care applications will be made by the turn of the decade is likely to come true.
