More children leaving care in Shropshire than entering it
More children are leaving care in Shropshire than going into it for the first time ever, new figures have shown.
Shropshire Council's data has shown the number of children in its care has also dropped over the last year.
There are currently 299 children in care in the Shropshire Council – a fall of 14 from 313 in March last year.
And this year from 2015-16, 75 children have left Shropshire Council's care system with just 64 new children joining it.
Tina Russell, head of safeguarding with Shropshire Council, said: "There'll always be a need for some children to go into care to safeguard them and we'll do this where necessary.
"But having undertaken a three-year analysis over 2011–2014 of the children who came into our care, we were able to identify a significant proportion of children who, having spent a period of time in care, then left to return home to their family.
"We challenged ourselves to ask if something different could have been done to prevent the need for a child to come into care.
"Our Early Help and Edge of Care work has been to develop a range of services to support children to stay at home with their families where we can, and we have invested in services including Havenbrook residential short breaks and outreach to prevent children going into care and to ensure they return home safely."
"For many children coming into care it's at the request of a parent who feels they aren't coping and have no alternative but to ask that someone else cares for them.
"In these cases it's about challenging and supporting the parent to help them to fulfil their parental responsibilities."
