THE number of children taken into care by Bolton social services has risen dramatically over the last year.

Latest figures show that from Christmas to March social services obtained 49 interim care orders, almost double the number in the same period last year.

There has also been a startling rise in the number of children regarded as being at risk and placed on the Child Protection Register.

In March last year the number on the register was 91, but by March this year that had increased to 134 -- a rise of 47 per cent.

"We have looked at this and individual cases, but there doesn't seem to be any obvious reason for the increase," said Cheryl Eastwood, Bolton's assistant director of social services, responsible for children and families.

Ms Eastwood added that incidents of child abuse which result in intervention by social services are showing the greatest increase for a long time.

But she stressed that Bolton still takes fewer children into care, or places them on an at risk register, than the national average.

The increased workload to deal with the greater numbers of children has put additional pressure on social work teams, and the higher number of care orders has added to the workload of placement teams and foster carers.

But in a report to councillors, Ms Eastwood said there was good news for children looking for adoption.

The department is managing to place 19 out of 20 children with new parents within a year of a decision being made about their futures. The average length of time it takes is 6.4 months.

The average length of time a child takes to be adopted from first going into care is reducing year by year and the process now takes just over two years.