March 2010 Archives

The government likes to travel by stagecoach. No swift, direct, electric train trips for the Department for Children, Schools and Families. And so today we have the next instalment in its "smacking" ban which will now apply to any form of tuition or care outside of the family including evening and weekend faith schools. They are taking their time but like the tortoise, they may well get there in the end.

Morning all - here's your last lot of must reads (for this week), starting with children's commissioner Maggie Atkinson's first official speech.

According to The Mail, Atkinson, who really hasn't had the smoothest of transitions into the job -from her controversial appointment to her controversial comments - has now attacked pushy parents. 

But you know what they say: there's no such thing as bad publicity. Children of England: your voice is loud and getting herself noticed.

The Budget continues to dominate today's news with subs at The Sun and The Mirror relishing the opportunity for catchy headlines.

The Telegraph reports that Labour's flagship pledge to halve child poverty will be missed and The Guardian: Darling's jobs pledge for under 24s.

Not a pleasant start to today's (other) news I'm afraid... A nursery boss has been charged with cruelty to ten babies in her care. 

A whistleblower at the Kent nursery called the NSPCC to report Laura Pettitt, who is alleged to have slapped and shaken children in her care - as well as force feeding them and forcing them to eat their own vomit. 

The new children's commissioner is rising to the challenge of filling her predecessor's sizeable shoes by pushing topical issues up the agenda just weeks into her new post.

Following Maggie Atkinson's comments, the debate on 'evil' children and the age of criminal responsibility shows no signs of stopping today, with Ed Balls now stoking the fires of public discontent too.

It's rare that the Daily Mail highlights positive news, much less positive news about youth justice, but this article about the potential benefits of Restorative Justice might just be a first.

Yes, it has smug and populist undertones - lest readers should think the Mail's gone soft - but it also highlights why campaigners are so in favour of the alternative intervention.

Ofsted has published best practice findings from a survey of 25 early years childcare settings working with vulnerable children in need. All had been rated 'good' or 'outstanding'.

Chief Inspector, Christine Gilbert, said the report showed that the best childcare makes a "big difference" for children in need.

Adoption UK has launched a short film exploring the troubles adopted children may face at school due to early experiences of loss and trauma.

The film (below) is part of the charity's campaign to ensure that adopted children have access to the same support as looked-after children.

It will have been with heavy hearts that believers in offender rehabilitation learnt of the news that Jon Venables - aged 10 when he killed Jamie Bulger - had been recalled to prison, nine years after being released.

Why? Because, out of prison and busy rebuilding his life under a new identity, Venables was a "beacon for reform" - well, so says some interesting coverage in the Independent today.

Figures obtained by Alun Cairns, South Wales West AM, have revealed that "a worrying number" of at-risk children across Wales are not being allocated social workers.

Cairns said: "I was very concerned to learn that councils in my own region had large numbers of at-risk children, with 116 unallocated cases in the Swansea Council and 120 in Bridgend."

At a lively pre election debate - in a bunker at the cabinet war rooms last night - shadow children's minister Tim Loughton pledged Tory support for the voluntary sector, calling for a "level playing field".

Responding to a question from the floor, about how the voluntary sector would be supported and funded in the future, Loughton - of recent channel 4 fame - was quick off the mark.

A three year old who was murdered by his carers was living in a private fostering type arrangement because his mother was "struggling to cope", according to reports in The Daily Mail.

Ryan Lovell-Hancox suffered 54 separate injuries at the hands of his 19 year old carer and her boyfriend after his mother asked the pair to look after the toddler, for a weekly payment, in the run up to Christmas 2008.

SCIE has released a set of three new films which highlight the experiences of disabled children and their families, and address the issues therein.

Issues the films cover include the quality and availability of short breaks and increasing access to leisure facilities. Each film highlights how certain schemes are improving outcomes for disabled children.

Many local authorities are concerned that thousands of unaccompanied child asylum seekers could be living under the radar in their local area, according to a new UNICEF UK report.

Levelling the Playing Field looked at unaccompanied and separated migrant children living in Solihull, Harrow and Kent, and analysed factors that affected children's ability to access support services.

Interesting special report in the Scotsman today: the culmination of a month-long investigation into life on the frontline for Edinburgh County Council's social workers.

Embedded with social workers, the journalist was given "unprecedented access" to their day to day work and has produced a detailed account of, what he calls, a "profession in crisis."

Around one million children face being trapped in the same cycle of deprivation and neglect as their parents, a report by Action for Children has found.

Deprivation and Risk: the case for early intervention, found that the debate on how to break cycles of deprivation for vulnerable children and families has been "too simplistic".

The Fear Factory - a powerful new documentary aiming to expose "the fear mongering that has led to an unprecedented rise in the UK's prison population" - is being screened today.

It has been released to coincide with a report from think-tank nef, which stoked the youth justice debate by revealing the true costs of locking children up.