research in practice

In June 2009, care applications in England and Wales reached their highest ever recorded level (784 cases) with Section 31 applications between April and September 2009 up 47% on the same period in 2008 (http://www.cafcass.gov.uk/news/2009/q2_care_statistics.aspx ). A breakdown of these figures by age was not available for the current year, but the Ministry of Justice’ care profiling study (of completed cases resulting from applications made in 2004) found that 29% of the 682 children in the sample were under a year old (Masson et al 2008: 21). On that basis it is likely that around 200 care applications every month in 2009 have been entered for under a year old.