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Ian West/PA Wire
UK News

Charity urges Christian community to step up after report shows no help for vulnerable children

by Tola Mbakwe

Action for Children has warned that up to 140,000 youngsters do not meet the threshold for social care and are not referred to early help after their case is closed.

In their latest report, Revolving Door, the charity said vulnerable children not at crisis point are being left without help as cash-strapped councils are forced to shrink or abandon services.

Chris Allcock, the South Coast Program Manager for Christian charity Safe Families for Children, told Premier how the issue is impacting children.

He said: "More and more children are only getting support once things have already gone wrong and the crisis has already happened and the damage for those children has already happened."

In the report, Action for Children said it sent Freedom of Information requests to 152 local authorities in England.

It asked how many children had their case closed after assessment, whether they were referred to early help after their case was closed, and what were the three most common concerns which prompted children to be referred to social care.

Responses show that in 2015-2016 184,500 children's needs assessments were closed as "no further action" as they did not meet the threshold for statutory services.

The charity said it estimated around one in four of these families were referred for early help services - such as children's centres or domestic violence programmes - after their case was closed.

But an estimated 140,000 children did not meet the threshold for social care and were not referred to early help after their case was closed.

Safe Families for Children specialises in intervening in families before issues reach a crisis point and links families in need with a network of local volunteers who can offer them support.

Allock told Premier tight council budgets means the community should step in to help children. He encouraged people to be aware of warning signs like children not wanting to spend time at home and children coming into school hungry.

He said: "There's an opportunity for community and for the Christian community to step in here and say 'we can support these families at an earlier stage and we can help these families, because there is a challenge with these local authorities and these budgets.

They have to make the books balance."

Responding to the report, a Department for Education spokeswoman said: "Across government, we are taking action to support vulnerable children by reforming social care services and better protecting victims of domestic violence and abuse.

"Councils will receive more than £200 billion for local services up to 2020 and spent nearly £8 billion last year on children's social care but we want to help them do even more.

"Our £200 million Innovation Programme is helping councils develop new and better ways of delivering these services - this includes projects targeting children who have been referred and assessed multiple times without receiving support."

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