Attempts are being made to halt rapid increases in the number of applications being made for children to be taken into care, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has said.
Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas said the organisation will have to continue to “sharpen our working practices and innovate to stand still”.
Writing in Cafcass’s annual report for 2015/16, Anthony Douglas, the organisation’s chief executive, says increases in demand, in both care applications and other forms of court work, were a “major issue”.
He said work is under way with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to “stem demand”.
News of the work comes as latest figures show a new record number of care applications for a single month.
Figures show that in July a total of 1,305 care applications were made – a 2.4 per cent increase on the previous record for a single month in June 2016.
It means that for the first four months of the 2016/17 financial year there have been a total of 4,959 care applications – an increase on the 4,118 applications in the period of 2015/16 – which was itself a record year. To read more please click here.
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