By Clare Jerrom, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.
Barnardo’s sued for £400m by former child ‘slave’
Children’s charity Barnardo’s is being sued for £400 million by a man who was separated from his family, aged 14, and sent to live in Canada by the charity in a scheme to populate far flung countries of the Commonwealth.
Under the child migrant scheme, Harold Vennell, aged 86, was shipped from Essex to Ontario in 1932 after being sent to a Barnardo’s children’s home at the age of six by his destitute mother.
He was forced to work an 18-hour day at an Ontario farm where he claims he was abused by the farmer and his wife.
Vennell, who now lives in Windsor, Ontario, has launched legal action with other former child migrants.
The suit, filed with the Ontario superior court of justice says the charity failed in its duty of care in a "systematic and perverse way".
A total of 100,000 British children were sent abroad under the child migrant scheme between 1850 and 1967.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 19 June page 4
Blair promises to drag courts into the 21st century
The prime minister promised an overhaul of the courts and sentencing yesterday, saying offenders will do compulsory work as part of non-custodial sentences.
Tony Blair also announced that ministers were progressing with plans to remove child benefit from parents who allow their children to play truant.
Blair said next month’s white paper on crime and sentencing would place greater focus on the criminal than the victim of crime.
"The days of believing the whole issue is simply around how we give better protection to defendants have changed," he said.
Blair told a conference on criminal justice and order that the government aimed to bring the criminal justice system from the 19th century into the 21st century.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 19 June page 4
Father hanged himself ‘over threat of truancy fine’
A man, who feared he would face having to pay a fine for letting his son play truant, has committed suicide.
Kevin Hope was found hanged from a tree after being reported missing by his girlfriend.
An inquest was told yesterday that Hope from Hampshire had told a friend, Kevin Birt, that he might be liable for the government penalty of £2,000 under its drive against truancy. His 12-year-old son Jason has a poor attendance record at school.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 19 June page 8
Care homes for the elderly ‘face £1bn meltdown’
An annual shortfall of £1 billion in the fees paid to care homes by councils means homes for older people are heading for a financial meltdown, according to new research.
Councils are paying care homes between £75 and £85 per person per week less than it costs them to provide an "efficient and high quality service", according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research.
The study’s author William Laing of Laing and Buisson said many of the 250,000 older people in care homes were coming under increasing pressure to "top up" their fees, even though their local authority was supposed to be funding the total cost of the care.
Laing said the continued under-funding of the sector could lead to more home closures, adding to the problems of bed blocking in the NHS as older people ready to leave hospitals cannot be discharged.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 19 June page 14
Violence feared at asylum centres
The government’s proposals to hold asylum seekers in rural accommodation centres could lead to vandalism and violence in village communities, the former home secretary Kenneth Clarke has warned.
As Clarke strongly criticised the idea, his views were echoed by residents of the Nottinghamshire village of Newton, one of the three proposed sites for the new centres.
Clarke said he believed violence would spill over from the camps and could lead to clashes with local youths.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 19 June page 14
Yarl’s Wood report proposes surprise checks by inspectors
The inquiry into the riot and fire at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre near Bedford has said independent inspectors should conduct unscheduled checks on immigration detention centres in the UK.
The inquiry, overseen by Bedfordshire council, calls on the home office to set up an independent inspectorate to oversee detention centres and introduce a star rating system so that each centre’s performance could be compared.
It also asks the government to help fight a £90 million insurance claim being made against the police for the riot, which could increase council tax bills in the county by up to £100.
Source:- The Times Wednesday 19 June page 14
Childminders more trusted than relatives, survey finds
Mothers are more confident about the quality of care by placing their children with a childminder than with a relative, nursery or nanny, according to a report from a childcare specialist.
The first results of a five-year survey of 1,200 families cast doubt on the government’s plan to promote nurseries at the expense of childminders, author Penelope Leach says.
The survey asked mothers when their babies were three-months-old what they thought would be the ideal childcare if money were no object. Nearly half said they wanted to look after the child or alternatively leave the baby with grandparents, nanny or nursery.
But when the child reached nine-months-old, childminding became the preferred alternative if they could not continue to look after the child.
Researchers found 80.4 per cent of mothers using child minders said the relationship was good, compared with 76.2 per cent using grandparents, 75 per cent using nannies and 71.9 per cent using a nursery.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 19 June page 5
Truancy sweeps catches 12,000
More than 12,000 young people were found playing truant last month after a series of truancy sweeps by police and education authorities, and more than half were found with a parent.
The government announced it would be keeping up pressure by ordering further patrols in September, as it published the results of 900 separate sweeps in 34 English local education authorities.
A campaign will also be held at the end of August to warn parents not to take their children on holiday during term time.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 19 June page 9
Ministers ‘pushing disabled off benefit’
Ministers were accused of pushing disabled people off benefit yesterday when figures revealed half the claimants who appealed over a range of disability allowances won their cases.
Statistics published yesterday showed appeals over incapacity benefit, attendance allowance and disability allowances all leapt in the last three months of 2001.
The increase in appeals comes in the three months after the introduction of work-focused interviews to try to encourage claimants to seek work.
The medical assessments used to determine whether disabled people are eligible for benefits has also been criticised by MPs.
Source:- Independent Wednesday 19 June page 8
Abduction of children by parents has doubled in seven years, charity warns
The number of British children being abducted has increased by 107 per cent since 1995, according to figures released yesterday.
Charity Reunite says the breakdown of national borders and the ease of foreign travel has made it easier for a parent to take a child abroad against the wishes of an ex partner.
Child abductions have "risen dramatically" as a result, the charity’s director, Denise Carter, told the international child abduction conference in Edinburgh.
She said in Britain alone last year 275 new cases of kidnapping involving 385 children were reported.
Source:- Independent Wednesday 19 June page 6
Guardian Society
Family fears
Disability charity’s ‘timebomb’ warning
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 19 June page 4
Council sees red
Hull seeks investigation into housing joint venture finances
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 19 June page 4
New heights
A youth inclusion programme in Tyneside, set up to prevent teenagers slipping into a life of crime, is helping to alter their behaviour
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 19 June page 10-11
Half-way home
A new scheme that offers intermediate care after hospital is helping people retain independent lives
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 19 June page 136-135
Treating the stigma
Initiative to change A and E staff attitudes to self-harmers
Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 19 June page 135
Scottish newspapers
Smacking ban plans may be reviewed
The controversial plans to ban the smacking of children in Scotland may be reviewed following a statement by justice minister Jim Wallace.
After the executive’s announcement to introduce a total ban on children raised public debate and opposition from some quarters, Wallace said they would consider lowering the ban for children aged under three to two-years-old if there is enough support.
Wallace said he did not have "a monopoly of wisdom" on the matter. However, such an amendment is unlikely to appease opposition groups who have argued that the law is unnecessary, likely to cause families and children unnecessary problems and lead to ordinary parents being prosecuted unnecessarily. Child welfare campaign groups continue to seek a total ban on smacking children of any age.
Source:- The Herald Wednesday 19 June page 1
Welsh newspapers
Cardiff Central cells 'still cause a problem'
South Wales' police say that they have addressed the problems in cells at Cardiff central police station that were criticised in a recent report.
But they admit that there are still issues to be resolved following the report by the European commission for the prevention of inhuman or degrading treatment, which was published in April this year.
The cells were condemned as 'dirty' following a single inspection visit by commission inspectors.
South Wales' police authority's clerk, Alan Fry said that the report was disappointing and the authority felt that it was unfair as it was based on just one visit to the custody suites in Cardiff central police station. He added that the authority fully supported what the commission was trying to do, but that there was a problem with Cardiff central that would not be easily resolved as the building did not lend itself to improvement.
Source:- South Wales Echo Tuesday 18 June page 9
Police deny trawling for sex abuse 'offenders'
Police have mounted a robust defence of their conduct in a series of children's homes abuse inquiries following claims that innocent people have been wrongly convicted.
Senior officers yesterday dismissed suggestions that they relied on 'trawling' to bring innocent care workers before the courts in an attempt to justify the huge costs of abuse inquiries.
Terence Grange, chief constable of Dyfed-Powys and spokesperson for the Association of Chief Police Officers on child protection, told the home affairs select committee that the police did not go looking for further offences but for witnesses.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 19 June page 1 and feature page 5
Substance abuse guidelines launched today
The Welsh assembly is launching a new circular aimed at protecting children from the abuse of drink, drugs and other substances today.
The new guidelines are broader in scope than those drawn up seven years ago, and cover everything from illegal drugs to over-the-counter medication, alcohol and cigarettes.
They are aimed not only at schools but also at other youth organisations in Wales.
Deaths from solvent abuse rose from one case in 1997 to seven in 1999, and more than 40 per cent of children in Wales, aged 15 to 16 say they have tried illegal drugs.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 19 June page 3
