The number of applications to take children into care in the UK has gone over 10,000 for the first time, 
according to the latest figures.
Over 800 legal proceedings were launched by councils in England to remove at-risk youngsters from their families in March alone, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The children’s court advisory service dealt with 10,199 cases between April 2011 and March 2012, which represents a near doubling of the number of children taken into care since 2007. January 2012 saw the highest ever number for a single month, with 912 referrals made.
Almost all applications result in the child being taken into care.
It is believed that the upsurge reflects the continuing impact of the Baby P tragedy on local authorities since full details of the case were made public in November 2008.
Cafcass, the agency which looks after children’s interests in the family courts, said the figures showed that agencies were working more quickly to remove vulnerable youngsters from damaging households.
Total new care applications between April 2011 and March 2012 were up 10.8pc from 9,202 in the same period in 2010-11 – and soared 57.2pc from the 2008-09 tally of 6,488.
Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas said: ”This is the first time care demand figures have broken the 10,000 mark over a 12-month period.
‘These consistently high figures for the year have really tested the resilience of our staff and our systems, but we have continued to be a strong organisation that serves the best interests of children.
”While Cafcass gathers this information and is of course impacted by the scale of this increase, all agencies need to realise we have to change the way we work collectively if the most vulnerable children in the country are to continue to receive strong public services in these tough times.
”Having said that, this rise shows that all agencies are working more quickly to ensure that children are removed from deeply damaging households where many have been for some time and are showing a lower tolerance for poor parenting.”
Baby P – now named as Peter Connelly – was just 17 months old when he died in Tottenham, north London, at the hands of his mother Tracey, her violent partner Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen on August 3, 2007.
He suffered more than 50 injuries despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over an eight-month period.
Government statistics have shown children who spend years in care are more likely to leave school with barely any qualifications and fall into crime, drug abuse and prostitution.
Family Rights Group, a charity which offers advice about social services, warned the care system was ‘struggling to cope’ with the rising numbers.
Cafcass, the agency which looks after children’s interests in the family courts, said the number of care applications was 6,698 in 2002/03 – the first full year figures were collated.
In 2007/08, before full details of the Baby P case had been made public, the figure stood at just 6,241. But by 2011/12, it had soared to 10,199. The true figure for the number of children placed in care could be even higher, since each application can involve more than one child.