News round-up: Cafcass chief called to account by judge

Cafcass chief Anthony Douglas is called to account by judge

The head of the children’s court agency was summoned by a judge yesterday to explain “deplorable and entirely unacceptable” case delays after the Baby Peter scandal.

Read more on this story in The Times

No progress on Scottish child poverty for five years

Progress in tackling child poverty in Scotland appears to have stalled, with more than one in five children now living in poverty north of the border, according to a new report published today. The study, by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, found there had been no improvement in the number of children living in poverty in Scotland in recent years, despite commitments to halve child poverty levels by 2010 and eradicate it entirely by 2020.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

 
Schoolboy suffers dementia at age 8

Ben Scott has Nieman-Pick, a rare form of dementia that affects just 17 children in Britain and has crippling mental and physical effects. His parents have been told Ben will die before he is 20 and he has been confined to a wheelchair with the mental age of one.

Read more on this story in The Telegraph

One in 12 child rapists or attempted rapists escape prison

Almost ten per cent of adults who preyed on children under 13 were let off with a community order or suspended sentence.

Read more on this story in The Telegraph

Autism: study finds 12-fold rise in cases

Up to 250,000 children have autism or a related condition on the autistic spectrum, but have not been diagnosed, researchers say. They are in addition to the 500,000 children who are known to be affected.