Relentless increase in children's care applications set to continue
CYP Now
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
A record number of care applications were made in February, but experts differ over whether this is a sign of better child protection practice, the result of cuts to early help services or rising levels of poverty.
February 2016 saw a record number of care applications made by social workers to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass).
At 1,225, the number of applications in February is 100 more than the previous highest monthly figure, and 27 per cent higher than the same month in 2015.
February’s figure also marks the 21st consecutive month-on-month rise, with the rate of growth also increasing – the past four months have seen double-digit rises (see graphic).
The persistent rise in monthly applications has also seen the figure for the first 11 months of 2015/16 surpass by more than 300 the 12-month total for 2014/15 (see graphic). If the trend continues in March, the annual total for 2015/16 will be around 1,500 applications higher than last year – a 13 per cent rise.
But what are the reasons for the growth in care applications, what impact is it having on children’s services and is there anything that can be done to reduce it? Six child protection experts give their views.
Andy Elvin, chief executive, The Adolescent and Children’s Trust “The figures reflect the continuing rise in children meeting the threshold for care proceedings being issued. The legal threshold has not changed, so local authorities are acting appropriately and professionally in seeking to safeguard those children who need protection.
However, it is stretching diminishing resources and we will reap the whirlwind of losing preventative services. The Department for Education should reflect on the rise and realise that cutting funding for local authority children’s services is neither fair nor sensible.
Local authorities do not ‘choose’ how many children in their area meet the threshold for intervention.
Any short-term saving made by the present cuts will be lost many times over by the need for more expensive adolescent and adult services later, if we do not engage with children in need of protection and work to transform their outcomes at the earliest possible opportunity. Significant investment and innovation in edge-of-care services are needed.
We [Tact] are piloting a service that uses foster carers as parenting coaches. More schemes of this type are needed to maintain children in their own homes.”
Dave Hill, president, Association of Directors of Children’s Services:
“These figures show an increase in the number of care applications being made for children and young people with the highest level of need. This is something we are committed to doing when necessary, even in the most challenging circumstances, with more children in need of help and fewer resources to do so.
To date, there has been some protection around core services at the expense of vital early intervention services, such as youth work and children’s centres, but now in many places core services are at risk.
This is a matter of serious concern for directors of children’s services and the sector as a whole, and government must recognise that demand for children’s services must be better understood and adequately funded so that children, young people and their families can lead happy lives.”
David N Jones, chair, Association of Independent LSCB Chairs:
“The courts are saying the care applications coming to them are appropriate, but it would be interesting to know how many cases are thrown out and how many lead to care orders.
The pressures on vulnerable families have been ramping up year-on-year because of the changes to benefits. There has also been a reduction in support for families and it must have led to a proportion of them tipping into problems. That is very troubling and I don’t see any end to it.
It is a growing social crisis and social workers, health visitors, GPs and police are having to cope with the consequences of it. It can’t be solved by playing around with the architecture of safeguarding – it is probably going to need more support services.
Is the increase in care proceedings a reflection that more families who are poor lack parenting skills and that a large percentage of these children should be taken into care?
If that is the direction of policy, within five years there will be a backlash against it and social workers will be heavily criticised for removing so many children from poor families.”
Nushra Mansuri, professional officer, British Association of Social Workers:
“When I qualified as a social worker, the Children Act 1989 was just being rolled out. A lot of this Act was based on the sound principle of trying to work in genuine partnership with children and families and reduce the excessive numbers of children in the care system. I had a mixed caseload, working with families in the community, child protection cases and children already in care.
These days seem to be consigned to the distant past, as I have heard directors of children’s services admitting that they can only fulfil their statutory duties and early help has regretfully been sacrificed.
We should draw inspiration from the experience in New York, where the number of children in care – which a decade ago stood at 50,000 – has decreased dramatically thanks to the actions of parents themselves – namely mothers alongside policymakers and professionals. It can be done and we should put all our efforts into redressing this imbalance in the best interests of children.
This situation, while being morally questionable, is not sustainable in economic terms.”
John Simmons, director of policy, research & development, CoramBAAF:
“The latest figures indicate the seriousness in which some parents and their children find themselves, where the local authority has decided that there is no other option but to take drastic action.
Nobody would elect to have these issues addressed through the courts when the stress, conflict and distrust they create fall on already vulnerable families. But the focus needs to remain on highly vulnerable children and finding a long-term solution to their need for a safe, secure and loving family.
The design of the Children Act 1989, was based on a core value of ‘working in partnership’ with the family to address children’s needs.
Was that a naïve belief or a sign of hope about what well- resourced, child-centred and evidence-informed professional services can do?
Should we be troubled by these figures or might they be a sign of hope?”
Enver Solomon, director of evidence and impact, National Children’s Bureau:
“The dramatic rise in care applications is complex and there isn’t one simple explanation. It could indicate a system that is getting better at spotting children at risk and more confident in taking steps to protect them. But it also might suggest that the cumulative effect of high-profile failings in the child protection system are making social workers and family courts more risk averse, causing them to intervene more robustly to avoid accusations of poor decision making.
Coupled with this is the precipitous decline in funding for services that intervene early in a child’s life and prevent them ending up in care. Our analysis found that government funding for early intervention will be slashed by 71 per cent in the decade leading up to 2020. Services, including those working with troubled families at risk of parental alcohol and substance abuse and mental illness, will be inadequately equipped to prevent children and families falling into crisis.
Against this backdrop, the number of looked-after children is likely to continue increasing, placing a considerable demand on local authority resources.”
Cafcass view: Rise in voluntary arrangements is main factor behind spike in care applications
By Anthony Douglas, chief executive, Cafcass
Care applications have been on a rapidly rising trajectory for several months, and on a lower trajectory for several years. The main reasons for the former are well known: more referrals to local authorities of children in need and at risk, with a certain percentage going through to care proceedings; better identification of need and better reviewing; the impact of the Public Law Outline care proceedings target; measures in the Children and Families Act 2014; and growing numbers of new types of case, such as child sexual exploitation referrals.
The main reason for the even more dramatic recent spike is the reaction to critical case law by senior judges about Section 20 (voluntary care) cases of the Children Act 1989. As a result, many local councils are reviewing all of their Section 20 cases and some are converting about 20 to 30 per cent of these cases into applications for care proceedings. This offers greater stability and permanence to those children in question, as these are Section 20 cases that have, by and large, been drifting badly without strong enough care planning.
There have also been significant increases in unaccompanied asylum-seeking children entering the country for one migration reason or another and who are then accommodated by local authorities. While most of these children are accommodated on a voluntary basis, they now represent a significant percentage of some local care populations in places such as Kent and Hillingdon.
However, these aggregated figures conceal crucial individual differences at the localauthority level. For example, Leeds City Council has reduced its number of care applications partly through establishing city-wide family group conferencing teams, who work with parents at risk of losing their children. Many other councils are reducing their numbers with strong early help or pre-proceedings programmes.
The local authorities with the highest number of applications recently are three relatively quiet and peaceful shire counties, not the urban areas you might expect. And while some areas have too many children in care, others appear to have too few when local social factors are taken into account. This postcode lottery means a child is at least four-times more likely to be in care in some parts of the country than others.
The national picture is not necessarily worrying if more children are being protected, which is the view I hold. Knowing whether any local system is getting it right or wrong needs a sophisticated appreciative enquiry at local level.
I predict continuing high increases at the national level for at least another year.