Fears of Baby P repeat as runaway bills take toll

GROWING numbers of children are being taken into care because their parents cannot cope with ruinous bills, in a harrowing trend branded “Dickensian” by one expert.

- Lucy Johnston

In some parts of the country child protection referrals are up 30 per cent, prompting fears of a Baby P type scandal as social workers are overrun with the soaring workload.

Meanwhile, former Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield claims other youngsters are being taken into care because their families simply cannot afford to look after them.

She said: “It is shameful in a country as wealthy as ours that some children are now being taken into care, not because they are being harmed at home, but because their families don’t have the means to look after them.

“It is like something from a Dickens novel. “Failing to support those families at risk of losing

their children because of poverty also makes no sense when the cost of taking a child into care is far more than the cost of supporting that family through hardship. It not only has a negative impact on children’s futures but is also costing the taxpayer millions.

“We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the scourge of child poverty.”