Social workers came under fire following the death of Baby Peter. Ben Schofield looks at the knock-on effect in Liverpool

LIVERPOOL is taking almost double the number of children into care compared to five years ago, new figures reveal.

A post-Baby Peter spike has also seen nearly 50 more children taken away from their parents in 2009 than in 2008.

A year on from the public outcry over the 17-month-old’s death, senior social workers say the threshold at which they will act has been dragged lower by the publicity. Baby Peter died after being abused and neglected by his mother, her partner and his brother.

But there was outrage after it emerged social workers from London’s Haringey Council had ignored or failed to spot the tell tale signs of the abuse. Doctors and social workers saw the toddler up to 60 times before his death but opted to leave him with his mother, Tracey Connelly.

A year on from the furore, Liverpool’s social workers say they are being inundated with reports of children in the city who are feared to be in danger.

They are receiving thousands more “referrals” from people – including police officers, teachers and the public – highlighting children who may need help.

Although numbers of referrals were steadily rising before Haringey’s failings came to light, the city’s social workers are on course to receive almost 9,000 this year – up from less than 4,000 in 2004.

Reflecting on a year in which social work has faced the glare of the public spotlight, Sandra Campbell, Liverpool City Council’s assistant executive director for children, told the Daily Post her social workers are busier than ever.

She said: “The public debate has turned on its head – people are saying we need to take more children into care.”

Mrs Campbell said up-to-date figures show the council has 878 children currently in full-time care – so called “Looked After Children”.

Another 385 are subject to childcare protection plans, which is similar to what was previously known as being on the child protection register.

Drug and alcohol abuse are the leading causes of children being taken into care in Liverpool.

At one time Liverpool had more than 1,200 children in care, but the numbers have tailed off.

Mrs Campbell said: “The number of Looked After Children nationally had been dropping year on year. There was a kind of professional consensus that we didn’t need to have so many children in care.”

But since Baby Peter’s case, the public’s attitude has changed and social workers now feel they should act sooner.

Figures collated for the Daily Post show in 2005 just 157 children were put into care by Liverpool social workers.

Between April 2008, and March 2009 – the period when Baby Peter hit the headlines – that figure had almost doubled to 294.

Mrs Campbell said: “The most noticeable thing (since Baby Peter) is the number of children we are visiting.