There were 1,288 care applications made in March 2017, which is the second highest monthly figure on record. This takes the total for 2016/17 to 14,544, an almost 14% increase on 2015/16. The figures are published by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), who recently released a new agreement with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) on how local authority social workers and family court guardians should work together during care proceedings.