£6m black hole as number of Norfolk kids in care hits all-time high

Social work bosses are trying desperately to cut costs and keep youngsters with their families after the number of children in care surged to a new record high in Norfolk, the EDP can reveal.

A big increase in the number of people reporting potential child abuse cases since the Baby Peter scandal hit the headlines has sparked a recent rise to a new high of 936 looked-after children a few weeks ago.

The situation is costing cash-strapped Norfolk County Council dear, with the predicted £50m annual looked-after children budget currently running at a £5.73m overspend.

With no increase in staffing to meet the surging demand, and the council facing significant future funding cuts, hard-pressed social work managers have redesigned the departmental structure to try to cope.

They are also bidding to provide more children’s home, foster care and adoption placements in Norfolk to enable them to return to the county 200-plus youngsters who are currently looked after in expensive placements outside its borders.

Tom Savory, assistant director of children’s services, said: “The impact of the death of Baby P – Peter Connolly – has had a huge national impact and resulted for all local authorities in an increase in numbers of children with a child protection plan and the number of children coming into care.

“We think that there’s a higher level of awareness and also people are more confident about letting the appropriate authorities know of their suspicions.

“The important thing is that where children need to be looked after, we are in a position to be able to take care of them. That’s what we are here for.

“We continue to work very hard to keep families together. People are rightly looking at numbers of children in care compared to the past, but we are working with families so that, wherever possible, children stay within their immediate family or in their extended family.”

The number of referrals to Norfolk children’s services of youngsters at potential risk rose from 5,448 in 2008/9 to 9,489 in 2009/10, while the number of initial assessments rose from 3,473 to 4,589.

The number of children in care stabilised between March 31, 2006, when it was 825, and March 31 2009, when it was 840. But in the last 18 months, it has surged again, hitting a record high of 936 in August this year. It currently stands at 930.

Mr Savory said: “Last year, 345 children in care left the care system. The work to return children to their families or extended families goes on unabated.

“We are working to try to return children who are outside Norfolk to placements within the county. We want them to be networked into local services and to maintain good quality contacts with their families.”

He added that from April 1, 2011, councils had a “duty” to provide a sufficient number of placements in the county to avoid all but those with the most special needs from going out of the county.

Mr Savory said: “We are speaking with providers to ensure we have sufficient foster placements and residential placements in Norfolk. We are working with Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on this, to see if we can work together to cut costs.”

He said “the jury is out” in terms of whether the number of children in care would fall in the future.

Reports last week revealed there are now 64,400 looked-after children across England, an increase of 6pc since 2009 and 7pc since 2006.

The publication of the figures comes after child protection leaders warned that services were at risk of being overwhelmed by a big increase in the number of at-risk children referred to social workers or removed from their families.

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services argued that rising workloads since the Baby Peter case and funding cuts are putting unsustainable pressures on budgets. It called on ministers to ringfence funding for early intervention projects.

Peter Connolly died in August 2007 aged 17 months after suffering more than 50 injuries over an eight-month period, during which he was repeatedly seen by social workers and health professionals at Haringey in North London.

His mother Tracey Connelly, her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen were jailed in May 2009 for causing or allowing Peter’s death. Social workers decided not to take the toddler into care after wrongly concluding Connelly was a “caring but inadequate” mother who just needed support and his injuries were probably caused by lack of supervision.