It is sad news that the number of children taken into care in Bradford has reached its highest figure for four years.

There are many, many reasons why children and young people must be put into the care of the local authority, and many ways in which this care manifests – it can be in care homes, with foster families or still living in their family home but subject to care protection plans.

Of course, it is a difficult and long-winded process to place children with appropriate foster carers. The disruption to children – who have very often had far too much sadness and disturbance in their lives – must be kept to a minimum, and that means trying to find foster carers close to the child’s school, friends and other family.

Foster families must be rigorously checked and approved, and those generous souls who are both willing to take a child into their homes and also tick all the appropriate boxes are sadly not in as plentiful supply as we would hope.

Longer term care, in the form of adoption, is also desperately needed, with the charity Barnardo’s warning last year that the numbers of children needing adoption places in the region was reaching crisis levels.

Bradford Council is to be lauded for its efforts to maintain stability for children by way of family interventions to enable young people with troubles to stay in their familiar home but, crucially, with more stringent checks and balances to ensure they are in a safe environment.

But if the number of children in care – more than 800 at the current count – continues to remain high, then longer term solutions are required.