It’s a bad time to be a vulnerable child at risk of abuse and neglect. Social work vacancies are running at record levels — 12 per cent nationally and almost 33 per cent in some London boroughs; and Cafcass — the service charged with looking after the interests of children in family proceedings — is in meltdown. It has been unable to meet its basic duty of providing independent, expert guardians to advise the court and represent the child’s best interests.

So special measures have been put in place, a sticking plaster job that gives children a diluted, less effective service, fraught with difficulties. Added to this are delays at court of up to six months because of lack of judges. Specialist childcare solicitors are few and far between, due in no small measure to a pay reduction of 30 per cent.

Things are desperate in the family justice system; and dedicated lawyers who have spent their entire professional lives representing vulnerable children and adults are despondent.

But more importantly, what about those vulnerable children caught up in the system? As a child in care proceedings, your case, on average, will take 14 months to conclude. Can you imagine what that sort of delay means to children? Fourteen months when they may be inappropriately removed from their home and loved ones, or remain there in an unsafe situation. Fourteen months of not knowing what is going to happen to you and your family. For older children the wait is often unbearable. Things can go from bad to worse. They may “vote with their feet” and go home; they rarely get the therapeutic help they need as they are not in a permanent place.

They are often subjected to multiple moves and disruptions. Their education suffers and their life chances — already limited — diminish. The same applies for younger children. Although they may not be so aware, they may become “unadoptable” (tragically those over 5 who cannot safely stay in their families are often difficult to place).

They will all lose their time with family (whether new or old) and those crucial months can have a hugely detrimental effect on children’s ability to bond and form good emotional attachments throughout life. We have the neurological research to prove this.

This is unacceptable. These children deserve better. The family justice system is on its knees and we need more resources now. The alternative does not bear thinking about.

Christina Blacklaws is a founding partner of Blacklaws Davis LLP (www.blacklawsdavis.co.uk) and the childcare representative on the Law Society Council

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