VITAL child protection services in Swindon are in the grip of a deepening crisis, it has been revealed.

The backlog of child custody cases has now hit five months and is growing.

A total of 55 people are now on the waiting list desperate to find out if and when they will be allowed to see their children.

Under official guidelines, all custody claims should be processed in no more than three months.

It is the responsibility of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (CAFCASS) to cope with the work.

South Swindon MP Julia Drown said: "We have a huge backlog and we must make it right something must be done to make it better."

The MP met with Judge Byron Carron and Suzie Goodman, South West regional manager for CAFCASS, to discuss the matter and urge an improvement.

Ms Drown said that the child welfare chiefs had taken steps to reform the situation and were recruiting new staff to cope with the work.

She said: "The problem was caused when some staff left CAFCASS, leaving them short-handed. Unfortunately it failed to deal with that in time and the caseload rose."

CAFCASS gives advice to judges in custody battles on which parents should be allowed to see children and where they should live.

The organisation is also in charge of protecting youngsters' legal rights although it does not deal with criminal cases such as abuse.

Ms Drown said that the long delays could mean parents and children were wrongly kept separated while each case was examined.

And it was painstaking business, she added, with each file taking weeks to check properly.

Suzie Goodman, the CAFCASS regional manager for the South West, said; "We agree that it is not good enough."

However, she insisted that the staffing shortage of which Ms Drown complained had come about because of unforeseen long-term sickness.

The South West area takes up to 30 inquiries a month, and the regional manager said new staff some temporary and some full-time were being taken on.

She added: "We are trying everything we can to reduce the waiting time.

"We are recruiting staff and we are doing our best to cut the delays."