RISING numbers of children in Blaenau Gwent council’s care have stabilised amid greater support for those on the cusp of entering care.

Childcare teams in the borough have been working under ‘enormous pressures’ to cope with increasing demand in recent years.

But staff working within the supporting change team (SCT) have helped reduced referral rates and rehabilitate foster children, saving the local authority nearly £350,000 a year.

Senior figures at Blaenau Gwent council are now proposing to establish the team on a permanent basis due to their effectiveness.

South Wales Argus: Blaenau Gwent Council offices in Ebbw ValeBlaenau Gwent Council offices in Ebbw Vale

A strategy aimed at reducing the number of looked after children was adopted by the council, along with the SCT, after intake numbers spiked by 66 per cent between 2013 and early 2018.

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SCT staff work intensively with families to try and prevent children from entering the care system. In its first year, the team received 104 referrals and worked with 140 children and their parents.

Tredegar, Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr were the primary source of the referrals, according to a report due to go before the council’s social services scrutiny committee on March 7.

“In the first six months the majority of referrals were received at the point of threshold as a final attempt to prevent cases escalating to court,” the report says.

“In the following six months there was a significant increase in the number of referrals received identifies a child at risk of becoming looked after.

“This suggests that referrals to the SCT are being received at a much earlier stage than they previously were.

“This has proven beneficial as the team has been able to offer interventions prior to cases reaching absolute crisis point.”

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Of the 33 children reviewed six months after their case was closed by the SCT, 24 were prevented from entering care.

A further 13 children that worked with the SCT have been rehabilitated home from foster care, a saving of £6,632 per week or £344,84 per year.

The report estimates that if all children stay out of care for a year, the potential cost avoidance of all referrals could be £1.7 million.

“This is based on the assumption that had the Supporting Change Team not worked with these families these children would be in Local Authority Care,” adds the report.

Applications made to the courts by Blaenau Gwent council to remove children from their parents has also dropped from 37 in 2017/18, to 19 between April and December 2018.

Tanya Evans, head of children’s services, has recommended that the SCT be established on a permanent basis in 2019.