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CAFCASS: LOCAL AUTHORITIES ACTING MORE QUICKLY TO KEEP CHILDREN SAFE

New research from Cafcass, the organisation that represents children in care cases, shows that local authorities are acting more quickly to keep vulnerable children safe.

The research is a repeat of the study conducted in 2009 into the rise in care applications following the death of Baby Peter Connelly. Since 2007-08 Cafcass has witnessed a 62%[1] increase in the numbers of local authority care applications. In 2011-12, the number of applications topped 10,000 for the first time ever[2]. Alongside the research is, for the first time, the publication of five years' worth of individual local authority care application numbers and rates[3].

Anthony Douglas, Chief Executive said “Following on from the Baby Peter tragedy there was an upsurge in care applications which is still being sustained three years on. For vulnerable children today this defining study gives encouraging signs that court applications to protect them are now more timely and being made at an earlier stage of a local authority’s involvement with their family. It shows that cases where children are suffering from neglect are being brought more quickly to court and that, in the large majority of cases, Cafcass Guardians believed that the local authorities’ actions were the correct ones.”

The study surveyed more than 200 Cafcass Guardians in relation to 247 care applications, involving 401 children, made in November 2011.

The key findings were:

• Guardians believed local authority care applications were more appropriately timed than in 2009. In two thirds of cases Guardians felt that the care application was timed appropriately, a marked increase from the level of just over half the cases, found in our previous survey. This increase was matched by a similar drop in the number of applications seen as being ‘late’.  
• In the vast majority of cases (85.4%), Guardians believed that the local authority’s care application was the only viable action to keep children safe and that there was no other alternative to court proceedings.
• This study, when compared with the 2009 study, has found that local authorities are making applications at an earlier stage of their involvement with children. In this study 19.8% of children had not been previously involved with children’s services at the time of the application, almost double the 11.5% seen in the 2009 study. Only 9.1% of children had been continuously involved with children’s services for more than five years, a quarter of the 36.1% seen in the 2009 study. This suggests that local authorities are taking action earlier to keep children safe.
• There is a greater prevalence of neglect in this sample than the 2009 study, and the children subject to Child Protection Plans (under the category of neglect) have been known to local authorities for less time than was previously the case. This suggests that neglect is now being acted upon more quickly, and applications in which neglect is a feature are being made an earlier stage than was the case three or more years ago.
• Care applications from London boroughs were identified by  Guardians as being more appropriately timed than those from outside London (75.5% appropriately timed), and most likely to meet the requirements for providing information to court.

Alongside the research is the publication of five years’ worth of individual local authority care application data, including both numbers and rates (per 10,000 children) of care applications.. Fourteen local authorities showed a net decrease in the number of applications per 10,000 children over the five years from 2007-08 to 2011-12 while in 2011-12, 53 local authorities experienced either a decrease or no change in the application rate.

Anthony Douglas, Chief Executive said, “After the panic that came with the Baby Peter media storm, the intensive reviewing by local authorities of cases has paid off for children: the intervention they need is coming earlier and cases are drifting less. Local authority staff are to be praised for this improved performance and local authority members should be praised for their political bravery in supporting these vital but not always locally popular services. We will repeat this valuable study in three years’ time, to assess whether progress is being maintained.”

Click here to view the Cafcass Care Study 2012.
Click here to view the Cafcass Care Study 2012 - Executive Summary.
Click here to  view the local authority care applications breakdown.