NEARLY 100 extra children could be put into care across Worcestershire by 2018 - with council chiefs admitting young people are suffering from a "lack of options".

Worcestershire County Council is now forecasting that its numbers of looked-after children could rise around 13 per cent to a record high of 780 within three years.

Your Worcester News can also reveal how the pressures on the county's child protection services are having severe consequences for taxpayers because of the lack of options.

Of the 690 children currently in care, 51 of them are having to be placed in private care homes costing a total of £188,000 a week.

The cost of finding private rooms costs taxpayers an average of £3,700 a week for one child, compared to £2,200 in-house - with the 51 there either because council facilities are full, if they have a particular need like a disability, or display certain behavioural problems.

And another 240 children are placed with foster care agencies leaving a £194,000 weekly bill.

A new report on the costs says 20 per cent of the county's children in care live more than 20 miles from their home address, with the data last examined in mid-May.

The forecast, meanwhile, is for the number of looked-after children to rise by 30 per year between now and 2018.

It follows a rise of 30 per cent since 2009, when it stood at just 531, to around 690 today.

Last year council tax went up 1.9 per cent, the biggest increase allowed without staging a referendum, to pump an extra £4 million into the service, with children in care costing taxpayers just under £30 million this year.

The council says the reasons for the ongoing rise are becoming even more vast than before.

Keith Francis, the council's head of provider services and transformation, said: "At the moment we're suffering from a lack of options, for most of them it's either staying with a parent or going into care.

"There's a decent understanding of what's happening but I don't think it's detailed enough.

"There are many factors. We've had 10 or 12 unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have come into the system recently, and I've had three requests in one week to deal with incidents in other parts of the country relating to children who live in Worcestershire."

He said the county council's efforts to recruit more foster carers are paying off, with the authority aiming to find 70 carers to provide 100 placements by October 2017, of which 32 are in place.