THE number of children being taken into care in Newport fell by 20 per cent over the past year, a new report shows.

There was also a 19 per cent reduction of children being placed on the Child Protection Register.

A report to the city council’s learning, caring and leisure scrutiny committee says this bucks the national trend and is particularly good because Newport is ranked as the fifth most deprived local authority in Wales.

The authority says the reduction is partly down to the implementation of its Integrated Family Support Team (IFST) - a pilot scheme initiated by the Welsh Government in 2009 in Newport to help families where parental drugs misuse and a child's welfare is a concern.

Since then it has worked with more than 80 families to help bring about behavioural change in a bid to reduce the need for social services intervention.

Fifteen children of the families who have received help have come off the child protection register or are no longer "looked after".

Another 15 youngsters were either taken into care or remained in care to keep them from harm.

The report says the project, which in its first year saved the authority £360,000, and is expected to bring in a further £250,000 this year and next year, has received positive feedback from families.

But the council hopes to extend the service, with the help of charity Barnado’s, to provide a similar project for those children and parents who do not meet the current criteria. It also wants to set up a young person’s substance misuse service.

The Newport team will also help set up a second team in Gwent, when the scheme is rolled out country-wide next year.

Whilst the IFST aims to reduce the number of children in care, it will only do so where it is safe, and some children will need to come into care for their own long term well being