THE number of children in the care of Blackburn with Darwen Council has increased to 370 at the end of December

This is 35 more than the 335 at the same time in 2016.

Borough children's services boss Maureen Bateson reported the rise to colleagues on the council's executive board.

She told them: " While this has increased the pressure on placements, the service has managed to increase the proportion in foster care from 54 per cent to 65 per cent.

"There has been an increase in the number of 'family and friends' carers from 11 to 23 over the year.

"The total number of foster carers supported by the Fostering Service has increased from 113 this time last year to 125.

"Recruiting mainstream carers for hard to place groups of children continues to be a challenge especially as the biggest group of new referrals were in the 12 years plus age group.

"Even independent agency searches for this age group have produced very few placement offers.

"On a positive note, the support offer for carers is now achieving greater stability for placements once they have been identified.

"Six new mainstream carers have been approved to date in 2016/17."