The report found "many" weaknesses in fostering

The move follows a report by the Commission for Social Care Inspection which gave the city children's services a zero star rating.

It raised particular concerns about children's safety and the number being looked after away from home.

The authority said it was disappointed, but was addressing the problems.

The Area Child Protection Committee had failed to meet its most basic responsibilities Read full report here (570KB) Most computers will open PDF documents automatically, but you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Download the reader here

The report said that none of the 18 recommendations from last year had been met and that "services for children and families were not serving people well".

Lead inspector James McParland, said: "The last inspection exposed a number of quite significant problems and one year on the situation hasn't improved significantly."

The report highlights:

• Fostering: "The inspection also found many significant areas of non-compliance, including weaknesses in basic safeguarding practice and placement matching."

• Child protection: "During fieldwork we saw assessments by social workers endorsed by their managers that appeared to minimise danger and risk.

  "The inspection found that for most of the past year the Area Child Protection Committee had failed to meet its most basic responsibilities".

• Leadership: Recent departures of senior staff "created the potential for a leadership vacuum" and a "period of uncertainty".

• General: "Service users were still receiving a service of mixed and uneven quality. From file examination we found that assessment quality had not moved on since the last inspection and there was worrying safeguarding practice."

• Morale: "Morale was found to be predominantly low. Many staff felt disconnected from the agenda of senior management."

Bronwyn Lacey, director of Children's Services, said action was already under way to tackle the high number of children being looked after by the authority.

Senior managers agreed delays in providing permanent placements for children were unacceptable.

The department had set a target to get a least 100 children into more appropriate settings such as adoptive families or long-term foster care by March 2006.

A number of children had also been returned to parents or extended family members after detailed assessments and ongoing support from social services to ensure that children were safe and well looked after.

Bronwen Lacey, director of Children's Services said: "We are taking action to ensure we have a variety of different placement options for children in our care, so that we can make the right decisions based on the best quality of life for them.

"We have already seen a significant number of children being adopted and placed with long-term foster carers, which is a very positive step.

"Alternatively, where appropriate some children have returned home to their families where we will provide the support needed to ensure they are safe and well cared for, until we are satisfied that there is no longer a risk.