Record numbers of children are subject to care applications in 2011

Record numbers of children are subject to care applications in 2011

Second highest monthly figure recorded in August

The numbers of children subject to an application to be taken into care have reached record levels every month in 2011 except one.

Paul Dodds expert Family Law team can help if your family are involved with Care Proceedings.

Releasing its care application figures today for August, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, which receives these applications from the courts, has received the highest number of new care applications for this individual month since it began collecting data in April 2001, with 885 applications. The figures for August were also the second highest ever recorded for a single month in Cafcass’ 10 year history.

March this year saw the highest ever number of applications received with 894. The monthly average to date this year is 814 applications, compared to 754 in 2010, 710 in 2009 and 460 in 2008.

Cafcass Chief Executive, Anthony Douglas, applauded the fact that local authorities were continuing to safeguard larger numbers of children at risk of significant harm. He said:

“This data represents children’s lives, and the rise in numbers shows a greater awareness of the life-threatening situations some children live in, day-by-day, with no light on their horizon. Peaking in August just shows that there are no longer quiet times: concerns are continuous.

“Our research carried out at the time [of the Baby Peter case], which scrutinised the cases received during the first three weeks after the Baby Peter Serious Case Review was made public, concluded that although the increases could have been attributed to the so called ‘Baby Peter effect’, local authorities had taken the appropriate safeguarding action in making these applications.

“Since then, many local authorities have lowered the threshold they use for making a court application to remove a child, and kept that threshold lower. This marked change has brought its own problems, such as pressures on therapeutic services for these children, and on shortages of viable long-term placements when children cannot go back home.

“Despite these increases a good number of local authorities, who provide a range of family intervention and support programmes, have kept their numbers lower and been able to cope with higher levels of risk in the community because of better resourced child protection plans.”

While Cafcass has been experiencing, and dealing with, the record increases in care applications since December 2008, Mr Douglas said the latest figures showed even further acceleration on previous record numbers. This, combined with the fact that cases are taking longer in the courts, mean that the pressures on everyone in the family justice system would likely remain high for the foreseeable future.

News Source: Family Law Week