英伦广角 2009-11-01 小彼得案之后更多的小孩受到

There's never been so much attention focused on keeping our children safe. In the wake of the baby Peter Case, care referrals have soared¹, so much so the courts can't keep up, leaving many children lost in the system.

Sara Miles knows how that feels. She’s spent twelve years on child tending care.

I feel like a puzzle. I once described it as if I feel like a big glass in the puzzle. Every time I got move around because it was all broken inside, that was how I was feeling, broken inside, like a paining glass. Every time I got move it around that’ll be a big glass of me when, a piece of me when.

Recently there has been a 47 percent rising care of referrals, a backlog² is building and many are blaming Cafcass----the children and family court service. They say it's an organization in chaos³ failing to employ sufficient staff.

There are currently⁴ over 12,300 cases going through the system, with a backlog of 721 cases waiting to go through the courts. And it takes on average 60 weeks for a decision to be made on a child's care case.

The boss of Cafcass admits the system’s under strain but denies it’s in melt-down. And even with an extra 1.6million pounds from the government, he says funding remains⁵ an issue.

We would love to have more but we're in the real world of difficult financial budgets for public services, and demand rising, we simply have to cut it off accordingly. But I would say that most children get pretty good service.

Sara now works with children in the care system. There is always a balance to strike between deciding on a case quickly and ensuring the right decision is made. She fears though it's ultimately⁶ the children who end up caught in the middle.

Laura Bundock, Sky news.

 

1 soared   

v.高飞( soar的过去式和过去分词 )；猛增；（音乐）升高；高耸

参考例句：

• The bird soared high, with outspread wings. 鸟儿展翅高飞。
• The rocket soared skywards. 火箭呼啸着朝天上飞去。

2 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

3 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

4 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 ultimately   

adv.最后地，最终地，首要地，基本地

参考例句：

• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience.那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。
• Vitamin C deficiency can ultimately lead to scurvy.缺乏维生素C最终能道致坏血病。