Children with nowhere to go
BRITAIN’S child care system is in crisis with record numbers of children needing help and a desperate shortage of foster parents.
Frantic social workers say they have had to leave children in unsafe homes because there was nowhere for them to go and one child had to spend a night in hospital because no alternative bed was available.
An NSPCC report warns that even in care children may not be safe. The charity says that last year thousands of children, some as young as five, rang ChildLine to complain that their carers were abusing them physically or sexually.
The next two years are expected to see 61,000 children taken into care, a 35 per cent rise since the tragic case of Baby Peter came to public attention.
The surge in child care applications since the toddler’s death in 2007 has coincided with a shortfall of about 10,000 foster carers, a situation likely to worsen as funding cuts bite.
The figures compiled by the Sunday Express have alarmed child care experts. The NSPCC believes the escalating problem will put more vulnerable children at risk.
There has been a surge in child care applications since Baby Peter's death in 2007
An NSPCC spokesman said: “Many children suffer in care. It is vital there are enough foster carers to meet the needs of this very vulnerable group.”
Conservative MP Edward Timpson, who has campaigned for better care provision, last night called for a “relentless recruitment drive for foster carers” and a “full and proper national review of residential care”.
He said: “Sadly the continued shortage of foster carers as well as the high turnover of social workers means too many children in care are not getting basic requirements.”
The shortage of suitable carers means that troubled children may be uprooted many times, sometimes several times in a single month. One child was moved 15 times during their life in care. Brothers and sisters are often forced to live apart.
The NSPCC said constant moves leave many children traumatised. One boy in a care home told ChildLine that staff ignored constant bullying.
ChildLine’s director Peter Liver said: “Every day, looked-after children talk to us about lives filled with pain and hurt. We hear from children who have been beaten or sexually assaulted while in care. Others feel abandoned or unloved by their new carers. Many have reached crisis point.”
The court advisory service Cafcass, said it received 8,239 new applications between April 2010 and February this year, an annual rise of 3.3 per cent.
Last year 53,934 children in the country needed a foster home, compared with 51,009 in 2007.
Figures compiled by the Local Government Association show that the dramatic increase in child protection referrals could see the number of new cases reach a record 61,000 by 2011/12, almost 35 per cent higher than in 2007/8.
