Articles by Date : August 01 2004 - August 31 2004

Probe into blunder over paedophile
An inquiry into how a convicted paedophile came to be housed next to a children's home and later abducted a 13-year-old boy has been launched by.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Study underlines crisis in drug abuse
Intravenous drug use is as common as diabetes and more prevalent than epilepsy among young adults in three English cities, new research suggests. more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Threat to founders of special school
Parents who set up a special school for their autistic children have been threatened with prosecution unless their children attend mainstream.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Councils given three months to pass adopters' names to national register
Social services must pass on adopters' details to the National Adoption Register within three months rather than six in a move to improve the.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Edinburgh referrals put pressure on staff
Children on Edinburgh Council's child protection register are not as safe as they should be, according to an external review ordered after the death.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Ladyman seeks to place social care assessment in independent hands
An independent assessment service for social care is to be explored in the government’s consultation on the future of adult services, community care.... more
(19 August 2004 11:03)

Refugee removal centre still closed
More than 130 asylum seekers who were moved to prisons after the unrest at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre are still in jails a month later. more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Critics say curfews criminalise youth
Human rights organisation Liberty claims almost three-quarters of English and Welsh councils have issued curfews for teenagers during the summer.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Councils must solve their own problems
Posters urging people not to give money to street beggars were launched by London councils Camden and Westminster this week. The campaign claims the.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Cross services protocol agreed
The six largest councils in north west England have drawn up a protocol clarifying who is responsible for supporting a carer when they look after.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Plea for action on restraint guidance
Six months after the inquiry report into the death of David Bennett recommended guidance on time-limited use of prone restraint, the government has.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Shake-up in adult placement rules
The Department of Health has published new minimum standards to shift the burden of adult placement care regulation from carers to council-run.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Fury after boy of 14 dies in custody
Campaigners are urging the government to rethink its strategy of locking up vulnerable young people after a boy of 14 became the youngest person to.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Children's services facing director drain
Uncertainty over how many directors of social services will take up the top posts in children's services is continuing to grow. more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Who wants a trust job?
Someone ought to run a sweepstake on how many existing social services directors will still be in post in 2006 or, if the tension can be borne, even.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Ladyman's risky game
If a car dealer insists you need a new car, you might ask yourself whether their recommendation is entirely unbiased. If a leading pen manufacturer.... more
(19 August 2004 00:00)

Thursday 19 August
Elderly could share homes with jobseekers Judge shows mercy over heroin death more
(19 August 2004 10:22)

Wednesday 18 August 2004
One doctor in four is mentally ill Woman charged with baby killing more
(18 August 2004 09:56)

Teenagers know drug users
Nearly six out of ten teenagers say that they know a drug user, according to a report from research organisation the Schools Health Education Unit. more
(17 August 2004 08:06)

Schools left out of children’s proposals
More discussion is needed on the role that schools should play in the proposed changes to children’s services, according to the Confederation of.... more
(17 August 2004 08:01)

Tuesday 17 August 2004
Dogs to help children with disabilities Children should stay with lesbian couple, say social workers more
(17 August 2004 09:54)

More “spot checks” on child care needed
Inspection body Ofsted should make more unannounced visits to child care providers, the president of an association for early years workers has.... more
(17 August 2004 07:56)

Mentally ill man dies of starvation after services miss opportunities to help
A 37 year old mentally ill alcoholic man died of malnourishment because he was ignored by his local mental health services, an inquest heard last.... more
(16 August 2004 17:23)

Peer pressure
Lord Laming’s Climbié inquiry pointed the finger directly at managers. And he doesn’t see why another recent inquiry by a peer skirted round the.... more
(16 August 2004 16:26)

Schemes take regulation burden from carers in adult placement law
New national minimum standards for adult placement care will shift the burden of regulation from carers to local authority-run placement schemes,.... more
(16 August 2004 12:05)

Monday 16 August 2004
Refugees ‘detained during legal process’ Charities consider pension funds plea more
(16 August 2004 10:29)

Call for on-the-spot nursery checks follows BBC documentary
Nursery nurses must be properly regulated and Ofsted should start carrying out spot checks on nurseries, say the Community Practitioners and Health.... more
(13 August 2004 17:05)

Croydon gains extra nursery funding
Croydon Council has had to secure extra government funding for it to meet a Department for Education and Skills target on child care, Community Care.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

They didn't buy
Clare Seymour's study of social work undergraduates suggests that awareness of the government's advertising campaign to recruit fresh talent into the.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Worth fighting for
Mediation is not the easiest way to defuse friction between colleagues. But investing time and effort in this process can be far more productive than.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

The heart of the family
Families First thrives on crisis, putting families on the brink of breakdown through an intense six-week programme to heal the rifts.Pete Andrews.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Ring for service
A filter system in the shape of a call centre has been running in two social services departments to reduce the number of less serious or even.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

The Simon Heng column
A service user's view of social care. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

More than misfortune
Where prostitution is one of very few ways of earning money, the results can be catastrophic for families. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

If you ask me
Kaye Hardie is a member of the Highland Users Group, a collective advocacy group for people with mental health problems. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

The big question
Right to live or right to die - do we strike the correct balance? more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Bathing is not an ‘essential activity’ for disabled in council care, watchdog finds
A disabled homeless man was denied access to a bath for 17 months because social services did not consider bathing to be an “essential activity”,.... more
(13 August 2004 16:01)

Depressed? Join the queue, please
There's a simple, proven way to cut the long waiting lists for the NHS's mental health services, says Chris Thompson. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Faster out than in
Despite the stream of recruits now flowing through social care's front door, the skills shortage will grow as long as our experienced professionals.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Regulations bonfire lights up local lives
Newham's experiment in laissez-faire social enterprise has been a huge success. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Survey finds NHS services keep users in the dark and without a proper say
Large-scale user research shows the NHS is still far from providing good mental health care. Clare Jerrom reports. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Spending review leaves social services counting up future cuts
The Local Government Association believes the government's planned funding increases for social services for 2006-8 are not enough. But with council.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Scots chief inspector slams prison regime
The Scottish chief inspector of prisons has slammed conditions at Polmont Young Offender Institution in Falkirk. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Bill fails to protect vulnerable in flats and bedsits, ministers told
Housing groups and charities are calling on the government to extend protection in the Housing Bill to vulnerable people living in flats and bedsits. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Social services fail to make progress on improving cohesion, says report
Social care and health services are lagging behind other sectors in addressing community cohesion, according to a study in the wake of disturbances.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Mixed-sex wards to be shut in Scotland
More than a dozen mixed-sex psychiatric wards in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital are to be abolished by the end of the year, the Scottish executive has.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Move to prevent families splitting
The British Association of Social Workers may set up a charity in partnership with other agencies to prevent failed asylum seekers' children being.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Probation officer was gun-runner
A probation officer who used his job with young offenders as cover for a gun-running operation has been jailed for eight years. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Dispersal link to HIV rate disputed
The government has challenged new research warning that the dispersal of asylum seekers could increase transmission of HIV. more
(12 August 2004 00:00)

Council still unclear on duty to islanders
West Sussex Council is seeking further clarification from the government over the money it has spent supporting a group of people from the Indian.... more
(12 August 2004 00:00)