The Child Minder

By Amy Taylor

On a recent trip to a council in the West of England I was struck by the difference in the level of services offered to young people in need who become homeless at the ages of 16 or 17 and those leaving care. While both groups often seemed to have similar problems, a need for accommodation, an increased likelihood to have mental health problems and drug and alcohol problems and low educational attainment, the services available to care leavers and what they are entitled to is far superior.

Continue reading "Same needs, different service" »

There will be no more posts on The Childminder for the time being as we have a shiny new blog where you can find all the latest news and views on children's issues and social care - The Social Work Blog. See you there!

by Lauren Revans

Normally I quite like Jonathan Ross – even if he is vastly overpaid. But on Friday night, he definitely overstepped the mark.

Continue reading "Jonathan Ross insults children in care" »

In Community Care this week, there are two featured articles relating to the childrens sector.

Firstly we have "Stitching a deal together" - read Mark Hunter's report on the Midlands experience of cross region collaboration

Secondly read "Measures of future success" - an investigation, written by Lauren Revans, Natalie Valios and Anabel Unity Sale, into how government social spending plans will affect children and families

Watching TV is bad for you - I knew it all along! According to the latest research, reported in Medical News Today watching violent telly between the ages of 2 and 5 is linked to aggressive and anti-social behaviour in boys when they reach the age of 7.

Continue reading "TV and violence" »

by Adam McCulloch

Interesting new figures from the Office for National Statistics on British families reported on the BBC, and the Office of National Statistics.

Continue reading "Family statistics" »

Local government unions may have settled for 2.5% this time around but they are already on collision course for a clash with employers on coming years.

Check out Mithran Samuel's article from this weeks issue

The Queen's Speech has announced a new Children and Young Person's Bill.

"A Children and Young Persons Bill reiterated the pledges of the Care Matters white paper and will give local authorities piloting GP-style social work practices the power to test the model. The bill also recapped on other white paper measures including placing the role of designated teacher on a statutory footing and ensuring children in care did not move schools in Year 10 and 11 except in exceptional circumstances."

Read the whole story on it on the Community Care news site.

by Maria Ahmed

The question was raised this week as the parliamentary science and technology committee published its report on scientific developments relating to the Abortion Act 1967.

Continue reading "Is it ever acceptable to take away the life of an unborn child because it might be disabled?" »

by Adam McCulloch

Throw religion into the child protection pot and things become very complicated.

Continue reading "When should children be protected from religion?" »