The number of children in care in Bradford has soared as a result of domestic violence and family break-ups brought on by the recession.

Latest figures show there are 918 “looked-after” youngsters in the Council’s care system compared to 890 only six months ago.

As it can cost up to £40,000 to care for each child, the Council has been left with an estimated annual bill of £3.7 million. That figure does not include paying for legal proceedings which are needed in many cases.

Councillor Ralph Berry, the Council’s executive member for children and young people’s services, said that economic pressures on families such as job losses and increased domestic violence had a part to play in the rise as well as the continuing impact of the Baby P case.

Baby Peter was a 17-month-old boy who died in London after suffering more than 50 injuries over an eight-month period after repeatedly being seen by Haringey Children's Services and NHS health professionals.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s, which helps local authorities find homes for children, has also reported a major increase in the numbers of children needing placing causing a “desperate” need for adopters and foster parents.

It was training three adopters a year in 2009 to meet demand. Now it has to train between ten and 14 a year.

Coun Berry said: “Our increase is a lot less than many authorities and less than Leeds.

“We should not presume the increase is a bad thing because it means we are taking firm and clear steps to protect children.

“The recession is putting pressure on our budgets and care numbers are beginning to nudge up, but the recession has not had a negative impact on people fostering.

“That is because it can bring in income for people. We have put additional resources in the budget to try to speed up getting the right people assessed to adopt.

“But despite poverty and pressures we have an excellent adoption service and invest in training and support.”

Dot Jarvis, the assistant director for family placements at Barnardo’s in West Yorkshire, said that the numbers of children available for adopters had increased, particularly since Baby P.

“In the last couple of years we have been very vocal in our attempts to attract more foster carers and adopters,” she said.

“There is a large increase in children coming through the system and a need for more good quality carers. We need to get the message across to the people of Yorkshire that there is a desperate need for them to come forward.

“Three years ago we would never have thought we would need to place sibling groups of two to four-years-old because the local authority would have been able to do that, but they now haven’t got enough adopters.”

Coun Berry also warned that “looked-after children” aged ten and over risk being torn apart from their siblings because families do not want to adopt older youngsters. There are 28 over tens in the Council’s care system, waiting to be fostered long term, but none of those are awaiting adoption.

“There is a difficulty as lots of people want much younger children,” said Coun Berry.

“It is a problem with older children and always has been.

“People want babies and some of the older children can be in groups with brothers and sisters who are younger.

“That means that some of the older children can be split up because one child is older and others are younger.”

Barnardo’s said that nearly 12,000 of all the children who entered care in England last year were aged ten and over including children as old as 16 and 17.