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Concerns over Welsh children in care

The proportion of children taken into care in Wales is significantly higher than in England.

For every 10,000 children in Wales, 89 are taken away from their families and placed into the care system. By contrast, only 59 children per 10,000 in England are in care. Despite the disparity the high number in Wales actually represents a drop from 2014 when it was 91 children.

Welsh Minister for Health and Social Services Mark Drakeford expressed concern about the imbalance in the numbers. Speaking at a Family Justice Network for Wales event in Cardiff he said that the rate in England had increased in recent years. Despite this rise England “has only now reached the level that Wales was at 20 years ago”.

Meanwhile, charity FNF Both Parents Matter Cymru has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the issue. The group has called for a government review of the disparity between the number of children in care in England and Wales. They also have demanded that the Welsh and UK governments implement a plan to reduce the number of children in care.

National manager Paul Apreda said that his group has been “approached by more and more parents and grandparents desperate to stop local authorities taking their children from them”. The people the organisation sees represent “just the tip of the iceberg”, he claimed.

Mr Apreda said he hoped their ‘Crisis in Care’ campaign would “draw attention to the scale of the problem in Wales” and eventually “spark a public debate that helps [Mr Drakeford] drive his agenda forward”.

In December, Cafcass Cymru announced that the majority of Welsh care cases were completed within 26 weeks. This represented a significant reduction from 2012, when such cases took 57 weeks on average – a much greater improvement than any authority in England over the same period.

The blog team at Stowe is a group of writers based across our family law offices who share their advice on the wellbeing and emotional aspects of divorce or separation from personal experience. As well as pieces from our family law solicitors, guest contributors also regularly contribute to share their knowledge.

Comments(6)

  1. David mottershead says:

    Thank you so much for your attention to this very serious and overlooked issue. We need more of you!

    Kindest regards

    A concerned father

  2. Lynne Blore says:

    Scandalous that so many children find themselves apart from their parents – more should be done to support families to remain together. Would be interested to know NSPCCs take on this.

  3. David Paul Jenkins says:

    Social services take (steal) children from innocent parents far to often. Social Services are terrorising innocent families throughout the UK and it’s the children’s lives that are destroyed by the state and all in the name of profit rather than protection.

  4. Concerned grandmother says:

    I have found dealing with social services over the last few months have been the worse experience of my life with lies injury s on grandkids ignored by the services . its about time this is happened people are listening to us , as social services have a law that does not make sence ie no risk we will take just in case ? What in case a pig falls out of the sky theze people need to get real or have children of there own .

  5. E says:

    If Welsh Social Services stopped abducting Children with their Crystal Ball tactics (“At Risk”) then the problem wouldn’t exist. My 9 year old son was abducted by Monmouthshire SS because of claims made by my jealous ex, who incidentally, is a Prolific Offender currently serving time at Cardiff HMP. The whole system is corrupt and SS are misusing the Section 20 to STEAL CHILDREN.

    • Emma says:

      “At Risk of Emotional Harm” Monmouthshire Ss accused me if when they dragged my 9 year old kicking and screaming from my loving arms. They even tell LIES to the POLICE in order to implement their Crystal Ball tactics. Disgraceful. Its about time the abduction of children was stopped

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