The latest figures released by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) have shown that care application demand continues to be at a very high level.

There were 3,519 applications to Cafcass between April and July 2012, which is a 8.3% increase over the same period last year.

Most months of this financial year have seen the highest ever number of applications for that month, and the 980 applications received in May 2012 were the highest number ever received in a single month.