Articles by Date : July 01 2003 - July 31 2003

Changes to minimum standards welcomed
Changes to the national minimum standards for people providing adult placements have been welcomed. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Scottish councils lack accommodation
Scottish councils are struggling to meet their new legal duty to house all single homeless people because of a shortage of temporary accommodation. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Reconviction rates slashed by one-fifth
A rehabilitation initiative has cut reconviction rates among people with mental health problems caught up in the criminal justice system by 22 per.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

MPs rail at lack of support for new mothers with mental health issues
MPs have called on the government to urgently address the lack of resources for new mothers with severe mental health problems. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Young offenders report high levels of depression and a lack of support
More than one in 10 young offenders have contemplated committing suicide and a similar number have deliberately hurt themselves, a report published.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Childminders aim to restrict information
The National Childminding Association has urged the government to "exercise caution" in responding to demands for all complaints against childminders.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Councils drag feet on direct payments
Sick and disabled people and their carers are being denied the support they are entitled to, according to a poll by Carers UK. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Services for special needs win plaudits
Most local education authorities are successfully supporting teenagers with special educational needs, says a new report. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Ealing faces probe over man's death
A coroner promised this week to call on Ealing's director of housing and social services to review the council's proceedings for homeless people.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Housing groups told to raise their game
Housing associations must radically improve their performance and provide more neighbourhood services or they will fail their communities, the.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Renewed calls to alter charities laws
Chairperson of the Local Government Association Sir Jeremy Beecham has backed calls for a charities bill to be included in the Queen's speech. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Fewer inspections for some councils
Councils are to see a reduction in the inspections they face following an announcement last week by the Local Services Inspectorate Forum. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Extra pay for staff with tough cases
The government is considering encouraging local authorities to increase the pay of social workers who take on tougher cases. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Young people voice views on crime
Five children's charities joined forces with a leading barrister this week to launch an initiative to call for a rethink in the debate about youth.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Education schemes pass Ofsted test
The government's flagship partnership schemes for tackling educational achievement for vulnerable children have been given a clean bill of health in.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Government may amend parts of bill
The government may amend parts of the draft mental health bill, the mental health tsar has hinted. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Number of trafficked children in Britain 'could run into thousands'
The hundreds of known cases of trafficked children in the UK are just the "tip of the iceberg" and thousands more may be trafficked each year, a.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Users seek access to prison treatment
Drug users who have not offended have been requesting day admission to prisons because their drug treatment services are better quality and more.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

More help for older people required
More than 75 per cent of visitors to Community Care 's website believe it is practical to offer older people more protection when their home is.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Disaster recovery
Armenian society still lives in the shadow of the devastating earthquake which struck 15 years ago. The recovery process, writes former social worker.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Delay reaction
With new protocols to unblock the care proceedings systems work? Anabel Unity Sale reports. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Let's face the music
Karaoke, theatre trips, midnight painting... not activities often associated with hospice care. But, as Katie Leason reports, life-limited.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Can it work?
How can the government's Jobcentre Plus initiative enable disabled people to enter the jobs market, asks Kate Stanley of the Institute for Public.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Sad tale behind the burns
Cigarette burns on an eight-year-old boy reveal a family in which the fear of violence is ever present. Our panel discusses the case. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Mental health morass
Mental health is meant to be one of the top priorities for the NHS. It is a claim that rings hollow. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

It's time to police traffic
Unicef's new report, Stop the Traffic, makes chilling reading: "There may well be literally hundreds, if not thousands, of children in the UK who.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Don't leave race on the side
Issues of ethnicity and culture in the protection of black children should not be underestimated, but inquiries into cases of abuse, such as Lord.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Nurses, please intervene
Nurses can play a vital role in helping mental health in-patients. But not all realise this, says Richard Jameson. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Thursday 31 July 2003
Prime minister said practical problems with ID cards have to be overcome. Blair to concentrate on public services. more
(31 July 2003 10:02)

Do not let fear of crime dictate policy
Yvonne Roberts bemoans the attitudes that stem from a misguided and exaggerated fear of crime. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Councils trapped by lack of housing
Sixteen and 17 year olds in troubled families need mediation, not B&B accommodation, writes Anthony Lawton. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Damaging delays
Delays in court proceedings undermine looked-after children's faith in adults and the system through which their futures are decided. So it is time.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

McTernan on politics
Personal wealth has soared in the past 50 years, but gross domestic happiness hasn't. more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Asylum media watch: 'You couldn't make it up!'
Replacing Behind the Headlines this week is a round-up of recent media coverage of the asylum issue. And, as our snippets show, the fall in numbers.... more
(31 July 2003 00:00)

Training materials
Equality in Diversity - A Training Video Resource Pack and The Family Assessment - Assessment of Family Competence, Strengths and Difficulties. more
(24 July 2003 00:00)

Young, gifted and stuck
Few social services staff from ethnic minorities reach the higher echelons of management despite a higher level of experience and qualifications than.... more
(24 July 2003 00:00)

Minister tells councils that ‘sorting out care home crisis is my key task’
The minister for community care at the Department of Health has pledged to tackle the crisis in the care and residential homes sectors. more
(24 July 2003 00:00)

Wednesday 30 July 2003
Blair to speed up NHS reforms and academic claims asylum dispersal system is costly and ineffctive. more
(30 July 2003 10:17)

Carers benefit from relaxation of registration rules
Changes to the national minimum standards for people providing adult placements that mean some carers will no longer be required to register with the.... more
(29 July 2003 14:39)

Children trafficked in UK may number thousands
The hundreds of known cases of trafficked children in the UK are just the "tip of the iceberg" and thousands of children may be trafficked each year,.... more
(30 July 2003 00:00)

New criminal check fees hit patient care home owners
Care home owners who deferred applying for criminal records checks for their existing staff so that schools could take priority, believe they have.... more
(29 July 2003 14:49)

Social workers with toughest cases could be paid more
The government is considering encouraging local authorities to pay social workers taking on the toughest cases more in an effort to tackle the.... more
(29 July 2003 12:40)

More than one in 10 young offenders contemplate suicide
Eleven per cent of young offenders have contemplated committing suicide and one in 10 have deliberately hurt themselves, according to a Youth Justice.... more
(29 July 2003 09:01)

Curran leads attack on antisocial behaviour
Scotland’s new minister for communities, Margaret Curran, makes no apologies for her tough stance on antisocial behaviour. But even the police are.... more
(29 July 2003 09:01)

Intensive fostering back on the agenda
Intensive foster care placements for children with anti-social behavioural problems have been included in the government’s consultation for the.... more
(29 July 2003 09:39)

Tuesday 29 July 2003
Project for disabled people likely to close after funds from Diana fund dry up. Failed asylum seekers to be denied free NHS treatment. more
(29 July 2003 10:02)

Positive start for Children's Fund
Services provided by the first wave of Children's Fund partnerships are well-targeted, engage children and their families and have good participation.... more
(29 July 2003 09:45)

Government must give guidance on pupil referral units
The government has been urged to issue clear guidance on the placing of children with special needs in pupil referral units (PRUs). more
(29 July 2003 09:42)

Debate on draft Mental Incapacity Bill
We asked if the proposals contained in the new draft Mental Incapacity Bill take control of their lives away from people with learning difficulties? more
(28 July 2003 17:54)

Who gets to decide?
The draft Mental Incapacity Bill should improve the way decisions are made for those who lack capacity. Yet, as Katie Leason explains, some.... more
(17 July 2003 00:00)