THE number of children referred to Herefordshire’s social care teams has risen by 50% over the past two years, with many of those youngsters needing protection from violence at home.
The rise shows 121 children are subject to specific social care protection plans, a number that has doubled since domestic violence and abuse became a reason for referral, following a major review of children’s services in the county.
Against the background of the Baby P case, the recent Lancet papers on the extent of child abuse in the UK, and a need for more child care social workers locally, Herefordshire Council is drawing up plans to strengthen support for children living with, or affected by, violence within their own homes.
Right now, these youngsters represent 40% of all children on the council’s protection plans.
Latest figures from West Mercia Woman’s Aid give a graphic indication of the extent of domestic violence in the county.
Between October 2007 and October 2008, the Herefordshire service took 1,290 calls from women, involving around 800 children.
“This is necessarily an informed estimate, as some callers will not have given information about their children, and a small number will have been counted more than once,” said Jan Frances, of West Mercia Woman’s Aid.
Over the same period, 48 women and 51 children stayed at the county’s refuge and 124 women and 195 children received support from the service.
Annual referral rates to Children’s Social Care in the county have jumped by more than 50% in the last two years. It is not possible to link this rise directly to domestic abuse because there are no specific figures for the category.
But a report prepared for Herefordshire Council’s children’s services scrutiny committee says that the rise is likely to be “partly due” to domestic violence and abuse becoming a reason for referral.
This report also says “increasing professional awareness” of the impact of domestic abuse on children has played a part, police officers working with the county’s family protection team will report all cases of domestic abuse where children are involved to social care’s referral and assessment teams.
The overall percentage of children receiving initial assessment is also up, as is the number of assessments being carried out.
A range of initiatives is now underway within Social Care to address the needs of children affected by violence at home.
The Children and Young Person’s directorate intends to commission more support services from April next year, with present budget projections putting the cost of this at £35,000.
An immediate issue is the obvious need for more experienced and skilled social workers in the county. The search for such staff has stretched the council as far as Australia and the USA.
A recruitment and retention strategy has been in place for two years, bringing in 15 newly qualified social workers and a smaller number of experienced colleagues.
The present permanent social worker vacancy rate in the referral and assessment teams and children and families fieldwork teams is 18%, reduced to 11% by using temporary staff. Overseas recruitment is expected to bring the vacancy rate down to 5% early in the new year.
Tackling domestic violence is also a priority for the county’s Community Safety and Drugs Partnership, which is looking to establish an independent advisory service, multi-agency risk assessment conferences, and specialist domestic abuse courts.
