Cafcass report increase in children taken into care.

This week the Children's Court Advisory Service (Cafcass) released new figures showing a sharp increase in the number of children being taken into care. Many commentators have suggested this is as a result of social workers erring on the side of caution after the furore surrounding the Baby P case.

There were a few interesting and measured debates about the issue in the last few days (there were also a few unhinged slanging matches too but I'll steer clear of sharing those with you) and the Today Programme, as is often the case, hosted a brief and insightful discussion on the issue.

The first two episodes of Protecting Our Children, which is still available on iplayer, has certainly provided me with new evidence as to how finely balanced the decision to keep a child with their birth family or remove them can be.