Eight-year high in toll of children needing protection from abuse

THE number of children needing orders to protect them from abuse has risen to its highest in eight years, according to new Scottish figures.

There is growing concern about the number of newborn babies and toddlers, in particular, being referred to the Children's Reporter.

The number of youngsters passed to the Children's Reporter overall has fallen by almost 8 per cent, from 42,532 in 2009/10, to 39,217 last year.

In particular, the number of children referred because they committed offences fell by 18.8 per cent, while those referred on care and protection grounds fell by 5.7 per cent.

However, abuse is a growing problem, with 678 youngsters needing child protection orders last year - the highest since 2004/05 - and almost half of those were under the age of two.

The Scottish Children's Reporter Administration (SCRA) is becoming increasingly concerned about the plight faced by Scotland's youngest children because of poor or abusive parenting.

Carole Wilkinson, chairwoman of the SCRA, said: "Despite the decrease in overall referrals, there continues to be significant numbers of younger children coming to the attention of the Reporter.

"Over the last few years we have seen proportional increases in the number of very young children referred to the Reporter, mainly due to lack of parental care or because they are the victims of offences."

It is the fourth consecutive year that the number of children and young people being referred overall has fallen.

The majority involve welfare concerns - 33,710 cases related to care and protection issues, with 8,126 due to offences.

Children are referred from a number of sources, including police, social work, schools and the NHS. If intervention is needed, a Children's Hearing is held. Neil Hunter, principal reporter for the SCRA, said: "Over the last few years, there has been some excellent co-operation and partnership working to ensure that children who do not require compulsory measures of supervision, receive earlier and effective intervention from our partners elsewhere.

"Whilst we welcome this, there continues to be a significant number who require compulsory measures of intervention in their lives."

Anne Houston, chief executive of Children 1st, said: "This could be seen as positive news that the number of children and young people referred to the SCRA has fallen for the fourth consecutive year. However, it would be worth investigating whether the drop directly corresponds to a fall in the number of vulnerable children, or whether it is a matter of fewer children being identified by local authorities.."

Children's commissioner Tam Baillie added: "The rise in referrals of the very youngest children would seem to indicate that we are getting better at identifying and intervening early which is a good thing, lessening the need for later, crisis intervention."