SOCIAL services bosses have trawled the world in a bid to find innovative schemes to tackle child neglect in Blackburn and Darwen.

It is the single largest reason for children being placed on the council's Child Protection Register since 2000 and is considered a serious problem, both in the borough and nationally.

Figures released for September 2003 show there were 397 children on the Child Protection Register at Lancashire County Council, 261 for neglect.

But in an effort to combat the problem, social services chiefs have looked into work done in New Zealand based on Maori traditions and the idea of guided family resolution through the community.

The project - which is now running in Blackburn and Darwen - aims to get communities to use their own strengths to address neglect. So rather than pointing the finger at parents, it gets people to pull together to help.

From this, social services bosses were able to develop Family Group Meetings, a decision-making process where families are encouraged to come up with a plan to address issues.

A conference organised by the Area Child Protection Committee, which is made up of health, education, the police and voluntary organisations, was also held yesterday.

The conference was aimed at learning more about neglect, including ways to identify when it is happening.

Stephen Sloss, director of social services at Blackburn with Darwen Council, who was a guest speaker, said: "The number of children on the Child Protection Register has halved in five years.

"The achievement is the result of a lot of hard work by the council and its partners."