The Children’s Commissioner’s Office for England published a report examining the number of children living at home who are considered by local authorities to be highly vulnerable. This report uses local authority data from March 2017 to estimate how many children under the age of five are at risk of severe harm, with a particular focus on infants under the age of one.
The author identifies violence, alcohol or drug dependency and severe mental ill-health as some of the factors putting children at risk in their households. Furthermore, while some households are identified by local authorities as "high-risk," many others with similar risk factors are not known to social services
The report offers recommendations for local authorities, including the need to focus on programs serving adults affted by domestic violence, mental health issues, and substance abuse in order to identify where children may be at risk.
The report expresses concern about the end of the Troubled Families Programme in 2020 and the cuts to family support services in favour of crisis intervention and has a number of recommendations for local authorities, including a need to focus on health visitors and adult services working with those affected by the domestic violence, mental ill health, and substance abuse, to be able to identify where there are children in a household who may be at risk.
