More applications to take children into care are being issued than at any time since the present system of child protection was established.

Thousands of children unofficially cared for by adults who are not close relations are “invisible” and vulnerable to abuse, an adoption charity said today.

Consultants have been called in by Birmingham City Council to find ways to help frail elderly and disabled people live for longer in their own homes.

Children’s secretary, Ed Balls, has launched a Whitehall-based plan to improve children’s services, following the Baby P case at Haringey.

TORBAY’s care home industry could be devastated by cost-cutting plans. A £2.13million cut to a £36.6million budget set by mayor Nick Bye for adult social care provision would mean a 5.5 per cent efficiency saving.

Social workers in Suffolk are to have their workloads slashed, thanks to 50 more staff being recruited in the light of the case of Baby P.

Grow your own initiatives, where local authorities and the independent sector support their employees, or potential employees, to qualify as social workers are becoming more popular.

If we want to attract and keep people to work as social workers, we need to give them respect for what they do, says Alan Warner.