By Anna Kirova, Law Student on placement at Burke Niazi Solicitors
According to CAFCASS (The Children and Family Court Advisory Service), the number of children taken into care due to abuse and neglect has reached record levels. Figures show that the number of proceedings issued has almost doubled since 2008, and this year has seen the highest number to date. Between April 2011 and January 2012, CAFCASS received 10,255 applications, an 11% increase when compared to the same period of 2010/2011. During 2012-13, CAFCASS received 11,101 new applications. This figure is 8% higher than 2011-12.
In October 2013, CAFCASS received a total of 972 care applications. This is the second highest month this year after the 1,005 applications received in February 2013 and a 2% increase compared to those received in October 2012.
Anthony Douglas, the Chief Executive of CAFCASS considers this increase to be due to the agencies being less inclined to tolerate poor parenting and working quicker to ensure vulnerable children are removed from damaging homes.“What we are seeing is an elimination of drift in neglect cases and a greater recognition of the appalling impact of neglect can have on children.”
It must be noted however, that between April and October 2013 CAFCASS received a total of 6,262 applications which is 2% lower when compared to the same period last year, when 6,365 applications were received.
Despite this increased “efficiency” in dealing with proceedings, a new report from the All Party Parliamentary Group for Looked After Children and Care Leavers published on 12th November 2013 suggests that children in care are not given the support they are legally entitled to.
The enquiry looking into the entitlements of children in care found out that more than 70% do not think they receive enough information about the support available to them. What is even more worrying is that one third of those children are not aware that they have a care plan, an important document which sets out where the child will live, whether they will have contact with their family and what will happen in the future. Over half of the children are unaware of the £1,200 bursary available to them if they stay in education. One third of children had not been told that their Local Authority must help them with education and accommodation costs if they are in full time education. More than half of care leavers do not know that they are entitled to financial help with getting and maintaining a job.
The report sets out ten recommendations to improve the way children in care can be better supported. These include better management of caseloads to ensure social workers can spend an adequate amount of time with the children, regular reminders about rights and legal entitlements, annual reviews of accessibility of entitlements and getting young people to have their say about how to deliver this information effectively.
It is clear that there is a shift towards resolving the issues surrounding the support children in care and care leavers receive from the system, but a lot more must be done to ensure the system catches up with the increasing number of new care cases before it can begin to identify the reason behind the rise.