THE number of children in care across Blackburn with Darwen is the highest it has been in three years, according to new figures.

In the three months up to March there were 375 children in care with 248 in foster care and 152 placed with in-house foster carers.

There were 316 children in council care during the same period in 2015 which rose to 346 in March 2016 and 375 in March 2017.

Of those in-house foster placements, 52 were aged 11 to 15 years old, 33 were seven to 10 and 24 were aged up to two.

According to a Blackburn with Darwen fostering service report, the school attendance rate for children in foster care was 97 per cent.

The report states during the three month period there were two allegations made relating to carers, one alleging emotional abuse and another relating to physical abuse and alcohol use by family and friend carers, however they was unsubstantiated. There were 12 compliments received.

Over the year nine allegations were made, one of which led to the de-registration of the carers.

Throughout the year there have been 39 recorded serious incidents, six of which related to one young person, who ‘went missing a number of times and was known to be associating with unsuitable adults and using illicit substances’ and led to a ‘major incident on Christmas Day involving a knife’.

Eight incidents involved visits to A&E, while 12 involved some form of violence or aggression either by young people towards their foster carers or their property.

Six people were also reported missing during the quarter.

The author of the report Alyson Hanson, service leader for placement services, said: “The number of new foster carers recruited has not been sufficient to meet the growing demand for placements caused by the increase in the number of children coming into the care system.”

She said priorities over the year will be developing a recruitment strategy, engaging with foster carers and developing the fostering support service.