There must be considerable relief that the latest figures
from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) show a
decline in the number of applications being made for care orders on children in
England.
After years of sustained increases, such a respite reduces
the seemingly relentless building of pressure within the system, which
threatened to compromise the quality of services. Those at the front line will
breathe a sigh of relief.
I would not, however be as sanguine Alison O’Sullivan, Vice
President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, who is quoted in Children and Young People Now as saying: “By changing the way we work and
further improving the quality of our assessments, we have shifted the burdens
of the process away from the courts and back into the care planning process
which is the right thing to do for children and families.”
I see no clear evidence that changed working practices or
better quality assessments are the causes of the fall in numbers. They might be but I think we
need to see a proper investigation of why the figures have fallen, before
anybody starts taking the credit.
