THE growing number of children being taken into care in Southampton is has sparked concern the authority may struggle to cope in the future.

The Daily Echo can reveal that an extra £4m has been paid out to cover the cost of caring for the vulnerable youngsters.

Latest figures show the number has risen by a third in the space of just three years.

Currently the city council is looking after 627 vulnerable youngsters, prompting one council chief to admit he “struggles to see” how the council can continue to meet the demand if it continues to increase.

Factors including poverty and alcohol-related domestic abuse are thought to be the causes of many of the cases which have seen the council step in to remove children from their previous homes due to concerns over their welfare.

The council says it believes that the publication of three serious case reviews into the deaths of four vulnerable city youngsters – Blake Fowler, Nico Maynard and brothers Jayden and Bradley Adams – may have led to more people reporting safeguarding issues to the council.

The council was heavily criticised after the deaths in 2011, with the reviews finding there were a series of “missed opportunities” to help the youngsters.

A spokesman for the authority also believes the establishment of a new Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub has led to more referrals.

The hub was set up following a revamp of the department and now allows different agencies to work more effectively together.

The figures for children being taken into care have risen from 472 in 2012-13 to 491 in 2013-14 and 575 in 2014-15, with the last total taken in July standing at 627.

Daily Echo:

Bradley and Jayden Adams

The figures were revealed after a council report showed there is set to be a £4m overspend in the children’s services department due to the rise in children being taken into care.

The department which is set to have a new woman at the helm in the form of director Kim Drake later this year after former boss Alison Elliott resigned suddenly at the end of May.

Mark Chaloner, Labour finance boss and former children’s safeguarding chief, pictured below, said the number of children being taken into care was “far higher than the national average”, saying: “The sad reality is that we have an incredibly sorry history of how we have looked after our children over the years.

Daily Echo:

“But we have a far more stable workforce than we did before and we are starting to get to grips with the number of children.

“There are children in this city who almost certainly should have been received into care and should have earlier but due to the failings in this city at the time they weren’t picked up.

“I really struggle to see how we can continue to meet the demand.”

His Labour colleague and current children’s services cabinet member Dan Jeffery said he believed the appointment of Ms Drake would help but said: “The effect of welfare reforms and the reductions of a number of public services in the city has seen a big increase in poverty.”

When asked what the £4m overspend had been spent on, the spokesman added: “Most of the spend has been around paying for external placements for children we are protecting, this is why it is so important the council is able to recruit more of our own foster carers, so we don’t pay so much for external placements.

“When there is an increase on demand for our services we also have to increase our resources to accommodate the need. Extra social workers are required to ensure we adequately protect the children in our care which is an extra cost that may vary throughout the year."

The council has also issued an urgent appeal for more foster carers to come forward.

The council is urging anyone interested in fostering to contact it on fostering.services@southampton.gov.uk or 0800 5191818.

Conservative opposition group leader Jeremy Moulton, a former cabinet member for children’s services, pictured below, said he believed one reason for the rise was that the council is “getting better at identifying vulnerable children”.

Daily Echo: Cllr Jeremy Moulton

But he said he believed the council was failing to set up “adequate preventative services” and accused Labour of trying to “hide” behind blaming the government, and said extra funding would be available for them to fund children’s services.

Paul O’Neill, the Conservative spokesman for safeguarding, said he believed a lot of the referrals were due to alcohol-related issues.

He then added: “There are often large families and if they split up for whatever reason you can actually get a large number of children who are entering care in one go.

“I would like to see a greater emphasis on support for problem families so we can be proactive rather than reactive.”

A Barnardo’s spokesman said the reasons behind children being taken into care varied.

She said: “There are many reasons why the number of looked-after children is on the rise both locally and across the UK.

"These include individual social worker decisions, greater awareness of the impact of all types of abuse and neglect on children, and potentially increases in family stress and breakdown," she added.

“What we do know, is that each of these children is going through a tough time and needs a stable, loving foster home."