By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.
Archbishop quits after row over paedophile case
The Archbishop of Cardiff has left his position as head of the Roman Catholic Church in Wales amid rumours that he has been dismissed.
It is thought the Vatican disapproved of his handling of two paedophile priests and believed it was unacceptable.
The Most Rev John Aloysius Ward temporarily left his post after a BBC programme ‘Panorama’ revealed that he had breached the church’s guidelines designed to protect children from abuse. The archbishop is said to have ordained Father Joe Jordan in 1998 knowing that he had been recently acquitted for assaulting a young boy.
In a statement yesterday he said that a meeting with the Pope had "come to the conclusion that my present good health could quickly return to incapacity".
He added: "I offered my resignation to Pope John Paul II and immediately felt at peace."
Priests within his diocese believe he is trying to "save face".
Source:- The Times Saturday 27 October page 15
Immigrants get citizenship classes
Immigrants who become British citizens will face "lessons in UK life" under plans being prepared by the home secretary.
David Blunkett is also considering providing English lessons in a bid to boost their opportunities of education and employment.
The proposals would apply to the 60,000 people a year who apply for British citizenship.
Blunkett said that citizenship had already been introduced in schools, and it was now time to consider helping new immigrants to integrate into society.
Source:- The Times Saturday 27 October page 16
Social workers call strike
Social workers in Kirklees, west Yorkshire, have been called to strike by public service union Unison, threatening to withdraw emergency protection for children at risk.
The row is about a £900 pay increment, which staff say should be back-dated to 1999.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 27 October page 12
Police officer wins depression payout
A police officer, who became depressed when working in a child protection team, won a payout of £135,236 on Friday.
Fiona Rowntree suffered a breakdown in February 1996 and a severe relapse in December 1997.
Her counsel Frank Burton QC told Mr Justice Nelson that she felt thrown in at the deep end when she joined the child protection unit in Croydon in June 1992. She claimed she did not receive proper supervision, and suffered the consequences of under staffing.
The Metropolitan police is considering an appeal.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 27 October page 13
Unmarried couples should have right to adopt, says agency
Co-habiting couples should be given the same right to adopt as married couples, an adoption group said on Friday.
The move, which would help gay partners to adopt, has so far been rejected for fear of a public backlash. But a growing number of MPs are backing the British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering.
Currently only one person from a couple who live together is legally allowed to adopt, even though social workers have to be convinced both partners are in a long-term stable union beforehand.
MPs are expected to voice support for the change in law on Monday when the government’s Adoption and Children Bill receives its second reading.
Source:- The Independent Saturday 27 October page 2
Go soft on young criminals
Thousands of young criminals could walk away from courts with no punishment under new guidelines.
JPs in youth courts dealing with under 17s are being told to treat crimes such as vandalism or shoplifting as offences of "low-seriousness".
The sentencing guidelines say they should "often" attract only a conditional discharge.
The move was immediately condemned by victims support groups, who said such crimes are often highly damaging and costly for their targets.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 27 October page 1
Betrayal
All he wanted was to love and be loved. Instead, he was beaten to death by the couple adopting him. But, in truth, he was also the victim of a system more concerned with political correctness and union rights than the life of a defenceless child.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 27 October page 12 and 13
Thousands face ‘asylum camps’
Thousands of asylum seekers are to be detained in reception centres as part of a government announcement on the ‘phased withdrawal’ of the controversial voucher system.
In a u-turn on asylum policy, David Blunkett will announce that the only way the voucher system can be dropped is by increasing the number of reception and detention centres.
Pressure groups will welcome the end of the voucher policy, which they say stigmatises refugees, but concerns were raised last night over the rapid extension of ‘asylum camps’ for immigrants.
Sally Price of Refugee Action said: "Humane reception centres have to be better than the existing system. The concern is that reception centres can easily turn into detention centres.
"We can only hope that decisions on asylum claims will become genuinely faster and fairer as the government promised," Price added.
Whitehall officials insist that if the government replaced the voucher system with cash benefits, Britain would become a magnet for asylum seekers.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 28 October page 5
Sports coaches ‘abusing children’
Hundreds of young athletes have been subjected to abuse and bullying by coaches meant to groom them for stardom.
Research to be published on Monday will give parents fresh concerns that paedophiles deliberately target children’s sport. Children’s charity the NSPCC has learned that sports such as swimming and football are investigating up to 50 complaints of abuse by their coaches at any one time.
During 2000 and up to April this year, eight sports received 179 complaints of often criminal mistreatment by coaches. The Football Association reported the highest number with 70.
Steve Boocock, director of the NSPCC’s new child protection sports unit, said: "I think these totals significantly underestimate the real extent of the problem."
Source:- The Observer Sunday 28 October page 13
NSPCC closures will ‘put children at risk’
The NSPCC is planning a series of closures in its child protection units despite repeatedly calling for more caution to be taken against abuse, and recording £9 million surplus earlier this month.
Staff have been told of closures of 16 child protection schemes in areas such as Cornwall and Cumbria. The move comes in the wake of huge public anxiety surrounding the safety of vulnerable children prompted by recent court hearings relating to the deaths of Victoria Climbie and Lauren Wright.
Staff at the children’s charity are furious about the planned closures.
Steve Anslow, general secretary of the British Union of Social Work Employees, said last night: "People are very angry and depressed. They are extremely worried that child protection is going to be damaged. It will have an effect, no doubt about it.
"In some of these areas where these projects operate, the services they provide are really the only ones of that nature being provided in that area," he added.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 28 October page 16
Prisoners take off tags and go on run
Seventy seven prisoners, many guilty of violent offences, have removed their home-curfew tags and gone on the run.
The missing men, were sent to prison for offences from shoplifting to assault and were released having served a third of their sentence on the condition they wore electronic tagging devices, reported to police stations and observed a nightly curfew.
Oliver Letwin, shadow home secretary, said the fact that 77 people had gone on the run signified the scheme had failed.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 28 October page 15
I begged the social workers to let me save my grandson from the couple who killed him
The grandfather of the four-year-old boy, who died at the hands of his adoptive parents, has revealed how he pleaded with social workers to let him look after the boy.
James Sweeney, who had already taken in one grandchild by his daughter’s previous marriage, tried desperately to prevent John Smith being put up for adoption by Brighton and Hove social services, who placed the boy on the at-risk register. Sweeney was refused due to his age of 71 years.
John endured appalling injuries at the hands of Simon and Michelle McWilliam for six months before one of them beat him to death at their home in Fishergate, West Sussex.
Sweeney and his family are now calling for a change in law to create a new offence of causing death through cruelty or neglect, which would carry a maximum sentence of 14 years.
The McWilliams were jailed for eight years for child cruelty, but they could not be charged with a more serious offence because it could not be proven which one of them inflicted the injuries.
Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 28 October page 36
Refugee voucher system is scrapped
The controversial asylum voucher scheme, which costs £15 million a year in administration, will be gradually phased out, the home secretary will announce today.
David Blunkett will reveal an overhaul of the policy, which will mean an expansion of the number of reception centres for asylum seekers located around the country. The centres will provide food, healthcare and legal help.
An American style green card system will be introduced to allow thousands of workers to enter Britain each year
Blunkett’s statement will mark a reversal of the voucher and dispersal policy introduced by Jack Straw.
Source:- The Times Monday 29 October page 13
Prince to give youths a £20 night out
Teenagers in one of the poorest areas in Britain will receive leisure vouchers to the tune of £20 in a scheme to be launched by the Prince of Wales tomorrow.
Prince Charles is concerned that young people in remote rural areas have low job prospects and little social activity.
Around 300 children in St Dennis, Cornwall, are thought to be entitled to the vouchers, which will be handed out next spring.
Ideas put forward by the teenagers aged 14 to 15 include surfing and life saving courses, canoeing, buying music and disco equipment and organising a trip for disabled young people.
Source:- The Times Monday 29 October page 13
New law may boost rights for fathers
Divorced and separated mothers who deny their former partners access to the children, could face community service orders and fines under plans to go to the lord chancellor next year.
Estranged parents in conflict may also have to attend parenting classes and anger management courses to co-operate over child contact.
The recommendations are expected to come from the Children Act sub-committee of lord chancellor’s family law advisory committee.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 29 October page 1
Blunkett under pressure to ease law on ecstasy
The home secretary is facing mounting pressure to relax the law on ecstasy following his proposals to reform the cannabis laws.
The government’s advisory council on misuse of drugs is following up new evidence that suggests ecstasy is not as harmful as heroin or cocaine, and could be downgraded to a Class B drug, which would halve the maximum sentence for possession to three months.
David Blunkett, who received backing from foreign secretary Jack Straw yesterday, for his proposed reforms of the cannabis laws, strongly opposes changing ecstasy from its Class A status: "He believes it is a highly dangerous drug that should remain a Class A drug. He has no intention of changing that," said a home office source.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 29 October page 13
MPs debate curbs on adoption of overseas children
Measures to punish people who adopt children from abroad without first gaining approval, will be discussed by MPs today.
The Adoption and Children Bill will receive its second reading in the House of Commons. It will be a criminal offence to adopt overseas and bring the child back to Britain without prior vetting from an adoption agency, under the Bill.
People breaking the law could face a 12-month prison sentence or an unlimited fine.
The tough stance follows the case of Judith and Alan Kilshaw who bought twins from Californian adoption broker over the internet.
The couple adopted twin girls after paying £8,000 and public outcry over the couple’s behaviour prompted the government to tighten the law on overseas adoption.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Monday 29 October page 12
Magistrates call for prostitution to be legalised in overhaul of sex laws
Prostitution should be legalised in a radical reform of Britain’s sex laws, London magistrates will urge today.
They will tell the lord chancellor that the court system has become clogged with cases involving prostitutes involved in vicious circles of soliciting, fines and prison.
The magistrates behind the proposals are angry that while hundreds of prostitutes are fined every week for soliciting, very few pimps are brought to court.
Christine Field, one of the magistrates heading the move, said: "We now need a different focus to end the curb crawling, and target the pimps and try to go along with the model in the Netherlands where they have clean houses for prostitutes."
Source:- The Independent Monday 29 October page 1
Scottish newspapers
New strategy to help "born to fail" children
Scottish executive ministers will this week announce new plans to help children who are "born to fail", and who may be unknown to care services.
The move comes after the death of three-year-old Kennedy McFarlane, who was killed by her mother’s boyfriend in Dumfries in May last year. An internal inquiry found that a range of health and social care staff had ignored warning signals, and the Scottish executive commissioned a national review on how to avoid a repetition.
The review’s twelve recommendations will call for more integrated services, and children’s services to be treated as a single service as pioneered by some authorities such as Stirling Council. The report is expected to be published on Tuesday.
Source:- Sunday Herald 28 October
Couple’s 20-year reign of abuse
Detectives believe that couple, Neil and Hannah McNeil, are responsible for one of Scotland’s worst child abuse cases.
The McNeils were found guilty of sexually abusing five children over 20 years, filming their abuse and selling the films worldwide. Found guilty at Glasgow Court – sitting on a Saturday for the first time since the 1920s – the McNeils denied the offences saying the victims had fabricated the charges in order to claim criminal injuries compensation.
Neil McNeil was found guilty of eight charges of gross sexual abuse of children, while Hannah McNeil was convicted of four charges including having sexual relations with an underage male victim. The McNeils will be sentenced next month.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 29 October