‘Children in care at lowest level in years’
A LOCAL authority with one of the highest numbers of children in care is now starting to buck the national trend of rising levels after a focus on prevention measures.
Bridgend County Borough Council’s head of children’s social care Laura Kinsey said while numbers can change week-to-week, the county is seeing a drop in the overall numbers of looked after children – to the point it currently has the lowest level it has had for years.
A report which went before councillors on Monday June 18 states that last month (May) there were 370 looked-after children in the county compared to 384 in March, and 390 last March.
Ms Kinsey told councillors: “It’s important to note this is a different picture of what’s happening nationally – the numbers in other local authorities are going up significantly.
“Ours are going up occasionally but overall we are continuing to safely reduce them.”
Ms Kinsey said a combination of factors was contributing to the decrease with the council doing more to prevent children from becoming looked after.
Changes include an expansion and strengthening of early help services so families receive more specialist help earlier.
Ms Kinsey said: “We have also been doing work with children that have been looked after for some time, constant- ly reviewing cases and looking at alternative arrangements which could potentially encourage parents to go for special guardianship.”
She added: “We are satisfied that when children do become looked after in Bridgend they need to be.”
Responding to a question from a councillor on what was being done to eliminate cases of children having to live hundreds of miles away from their home county, Ms Kinsey said: “There is a lot of working happening in Bridgend to work more with local authorities but unfortunately most authorities are experiencing a shortage of placements as well.
“Often children are placed out of county when there is nothing locally and they have very specific needs and need therapeutic support as well.
“We are undertaking a remodelling of our residential provision which will enable us to increase the level of support we offer such as psychological support.”
The council’s director of social services Sue Cooper said looked-after children in the county were a “huge priority” for the service.
In Wales and England, the number of care order applications reached record level in 2017 and the number of looked after children was at its highest since the Children Act 1989.