Children in care cases increase in Sussex (From The Argus)

Children in care cases increase in Sussex

1:20pm Monday 13th February 2012 in News

A “significant increase” in the number of children put in care has led to preventative efforts by a council.

A total of 618 children were in care in East Sussex at the end of June 2010 compared to 538 the year before.

This is a trend reflected nationally and is believed to be linked to the impact of austerity Britain and high-profile cases, such as Baby P, which saw more people looking out for children’s safety.

East Sussex County Council is launching a scheme which hopes to keep more children with their families through early intervention rather than putting them into care.

A spokesman said the increasing number of people contacting services about the welfare of a child had a knock-on effect, with more children placed on child protection plans and a significant increase put in care as a result.

He added this had vastly increased pressure on an already tight budget but stressed the programme was not a cost-cutting endeavour.

The three-year programme hopes to reduce the number of children referred by a quarter and cut the number in care by 16% through working closer with families to resolve difficulties.

Christina Blacklaws, a lawyer with the Co-operative Legal Services specialising in this area, told the BBC: “The last resort should be care proceedings and removing children from their families.”

She added that she was worried local authorities might be overly cautious about removing children from their home rather than face another Baby P situation.

Brighton and Hove City Council has also seen an increase in the number of children being taken into care and are working to reduce it.

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