Rise in court applications regarding children in care

The number of court applications regarding children in care significantly rose last year, even though the number of children in the care system remained relatively static.

The latest report from the Child Law Reporting Project showed the total number of court applications increased to 14,124 in 2015 from 9,864 in 2014. The main reason for the increase was the number of care order applications, extensions of interim care orders and reviews of care orders.

Care order applications rose from 1,800 in 2014 to 3,413 last year, the extensions of interim care orders increased from 2,003 to 3,252, and reviews of care orders almost doubled from 806 to 1,502.