In Today's Papers

By Clare Jerrom, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Children’s lives ‘worsened by CSA’
The Child Support Agency has worsened the lives of children from broken homes, according to a report.
A breakdown in the service has been caused by appalling mismanagement, computer problems and basic facts not being checked.
Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 28 June page 22
Full story


Traditional families are hit by declining morals, say mothers
An increasing number of single parents and declining moral values are affecting traditional family life, according to a survey of mothers in the 21st Century Family Life Survey.

Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 28 june page 23
Full story

UN criticises Home Office over refugees
The United Nations has condemned the Home Office for its treatment of asylum seekers.
The report warned that dismissive and disbelieving attitudes of Home Office officials could lead to hundreds of refugees being returned to face torture and execution in their own countries.
Source:- Independent  Wednesday 28 june page 4
Full story

Failures of system allowed paranoid schizophrenic to kill
An independent inquiry has found that a series of professional and system failures gave a paranoid schizophrenic the opportunity to stab an older woman to death.
Matthew Newland stabbed Adelaide Howard in March 2002. He had been sectioned two years earlier but was released in 2001 after he was misdiagnosed.
Source:- Independent  Wednesday 28 June page 12
Full story

MPs say judges too soft on domestic violence
The Commons home affairs committee has warned judges against sending men convicted of domestic violence offences on unproven anger management courses and therapeutic programmes instead of jailing them.
Committee chair John Denham said “inappropriate sentencing” would not be suggested in other kind sof violent crime and should be dropped.
Source:- The Guardian  Wednesday 28 June page 14
Full story

Exchequer counting on care reforms
Source:- Society Guardian  Wednesday 28 June page 2
Full story

Promises, promises
Tony Blair has made a firm commitment to further involve the voluntary sector in delivering public services but, as Annie Kelly discovers, there are fears that the government will not be able to keep its word.
Source:- Society Guardian  Wednesday 28 June page 3
Full story

A question of priorities
It’s a £17 billion industry that serves millions and embraces the extremes of human experience and behaviour. So why don’t we value social care?
Source:- Society Guardian  Wednesday 28 June page 6
Full story

Warming to the task
Seven pillars of parenting form the base of a care home’s new approach for looked-after children
Source:- Society Guardian  Wednesday 28 June page 7
Full story

Rooms for improvement
As needle exchanges celebrate their 20th anniversary, two new reports call for increased help for Class A drug users
Source:- Society Guardian  Wednesday 28 June page 7
Full story

Immigrants ‘swamping’ council services
A surge in immigration levels is putting a huge strain on local services, council leaders warned yesterday.
Councils say there are not enough homes for the influx of migrants, especially from eastern Europe, and transport, schools and hospitals are finding it hard to cope.
Source:- Daily Telegraph  Wednesday 28 June page 4
Full story

Children’s rights to anonymity ended for family courts
An automatic ban on identifying children involved in family court cases was lifted yesterday in a landmark Court of Appeal ruling.

The Court of Appeal ruled that Simon Clayton who spent more than three years in dispute with his former wife Aneta over contact with their daughter Estelle, should have the right to talk openly about his case.
Source:- The Times  Wednesday 28 June page 2
Full story


Scottish news

Lack of asbos enrages first minister
First minister Jack McConnell has lambasted chief constables and council chiefs for failing to make use of new powers he gave them under anti-social behaviour legislation.
He spoke of his "absolute dismay" that only half the country's eight police forces and a quarter of the 32 local authorities were using the new powers.
Mr McConnell said the failure of council leaders to use these powers was shocking and those involved should "take a good, long look at themselves".
Source: The Herald, Wednesday 28 June
Full story

McCabe urges clampdown on czars
The growth of regulators and commissioners is being put on hold while both the parliament and the executive question whether they are all needed at their current costs.
There are to be no new scrutiny bodies proposed, though the most controversial one, the human rights commissioner, is one of five still on course through executive legislation.
The Finance Minister, Tom McCabe, told MSPs he would write to cabinet colleagues about concerns being raised in the Holyrood finance committee but resisted pressure to put on hold the five new ones.
Source: The Herald, Wednesday 28 June
Full story

Alarming rise in number of child cannabis victims
The number of Scots children treated for cannabis abuse has almost doubled since the government announced the drug would be reclassified in 2002.
That year, 198 under-16s were admitted to Scottish treatment programmes in connection with cannabis use.
The latest figures have revealed that by 2004, the year in which the law downgrading the drug from category B to C was passed, the number of children treated for cannabis use almost doubled to 382.
Source: The Scotsman, Wednesday 28 June
Full story

Welsh news

A father who went to jail for abducting his daughter has won a legal battle to speak openly about the court case to determine access to his little girl.
Simon Clayton’s victory in the court of appeal is being heralded as a major victory for parents’ allowing them to discuss court cases held in private.
Clayton, who is from Hay-on-Wye, was sentenced to prison after taking his daughter to Portugal without informing his former wife in 2003.
He has now agreed on a shared access agreement to his daughter with her.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Full story

MP sets up anti-early release body
A new campaign group to stop prisoners from being released early from their sentences has been set up by a Wales’ MP.
David Davies, MP for Monmouth, wants criminals to serve the whole of their sentences and is today launching Safer (Stop All Forms of Early Release). The group has already got the backing of senior probation officers.
Source:- Western Mail, Wednesday, 28 June 2006
Full story