tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2008:/blogs/childrens-services//9 2008-01-10T13:06:12Z Examining the policies, decisions and events affecting the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable children Movable Type Enterprise 1.53 tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2008:/blogs/childrens-services//9.21617 2008-01-10T11:40:47Z 2008-01-10T13:06:12Z

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...

Amy Taylor 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.]]> At this particular authority while care leavers were sent to live in a small, bright, smartly furnished house with a cared for garden and live in worker, for all intents and purposes no different to many swish homes across the country, young people who became homeless at 16 were packed off to a rambling run down hostel nearby. Along with its 16 and 17 year old residents the hostel was also home to homeless single adults, homeless families and adult offenders, although not those classifed as schedule one. A security guard and CCTV were present and I was told the police were frequent visitors. While clean the facilities were basic and dated. Going to stay here as an adult or with your parents would be daunting enough but as a 16 or 17 year old unable to live with your family it would be completely daunting. Although only used for the group for short periods of time, while other more suitable accommodation is sought, it would leave an ever lasting impression. Nobody would want to deny care leavers the service they get, and I am fully aware that in many other authorities the acccommodation on offer in not of as of high quality, but it is not right that two groups, with such similar needs, are treated so differently just due to the age they came into the system. tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17574 2007-11-15T10:28:04Z 2007-11-15T10:30:25Z

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...

Simeon Brody The Social Work Blog. See you there!]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17346 2007-11-12T16:03:43Z 2007-11-12T16:18:35Z

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

Simeon Brody by Lauren Revans Normally I quite like Jonathan Ross – even if he is vastly overpaid. But on Friday night, he definitely overstepped the mark. ]]> In the interests of ‘comedy’, Ross told stand-up Jimmy Carr that he “had the look of someone who had been in care”, adding that, if he came across him in a restaurant when he was out with his family, he would keep his children away. Maybe I was feeling a bit sensitive having recently visited and talked with some children in care, but I’m afraid I couldn’t find anything about this particular interaction to laugh about. As far as I am concerned: Implying that people who have been in care are somehow all strange looking is not funny; and implying that people who have been in care are potentially dangerous to children is not funny. There are many other ways Ross could have chosen to laugh with/at someone like Jimmy Carr. Choosing to offend some of society’s most disadvantaged children in the process was, at best, unnecessary and, at worst, down right offensive. tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17112 2007-11-07T17:26:37Z 2007-11-07T17:31:26Z

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...

Gary 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]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17082 2007-11-07T12:30:23Z 2007-11-07T12:38:26Z

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...

Simeon Brody 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.]]> Now, I'm no Mary Whitehouse, but film and TV is way more violent than it used to be and we've not even started on computer games. People have said for ages that it's all fine and it has no effect on people but perhaps now we will begin to realise that it does. tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17071 2007-11-07T11:25:57Z 2007-11-07T11:31:34Z

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....

Simeon Brody 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. ]]> stat report that the gender pay gap is the narrowest since records began ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17068 2007-11-07T11:01:05Z 2007-11-07T11:14:55Z

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...

Gary Mithran Samuel's article from this weeks issue]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.17020 2007-11-06T14:46:02Z 2007-11-06T14:49:59Z

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...

Simeon Brody "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. ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.16839 2007-11-02T12:15:37Z 2007-11-02T16:33:29Z

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....

Simeon Brody 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.]]> Lawyer’s Christian Fellowship told the committee they did not accept that foetal abnormality “can ever justify abortion.” It said: “The mere existence of this clause of the Act is highly controversial because of the way it discriminates unashamedly against the disabled and makes sweeping assumptions about the quality of life and of the intrinsic value of life.” The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children which also gave evidence, has also spoken out against abortion of the disabled, saying it is “not only an attack on the most vulnerable and most in need of protection, but also an affront to all members of the community who are disabled. It sends them the message that they are inferior to, and of less value than, the able-bodied.” But while the anti-abortion lobby seemingly spoke out on behalf of disabled children and their parents, views from the grassroots were surprisingly absent. Those giving evidence to the committee were largely divided between doctors and anti-abortion lobbyists. There was vital but far too patchy evidence on medical advances that mean disabled children now stand a better chance of having equality and quality of life than before. This made something of a mockery of the inquiry’s purpose to look at “scientific developments” since the Abortion Act was passed in 1967. The Lejeune Clinic for Children with Down’s Syndrome was the sole disability organisation that gave evidence, but where were the voices of the countless other disability groups? The abortion debate is too dominated by doctors, the women’s lobby and the anti-abortionists. The voices of disabled children and their parents must be heard to create a better future for the next generation. More information Read the evidence submitted to the committee. Also, there are a couple of interesting Community Care articles on this issue: Is it right to screen embryos for disabilities? A woman’s right to decide is paramount [Jepson case] ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.16767 2007-11-01T11:34:06Z 2007-11-01T11:50:20Z

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

Simeon Brody by Adam McCulloch Throw religion into the child protection pot and things become very complicated. ]]> Community Care’s legal expert Ed Mitchell tells the story of a court case from 1993 in France: "Mr Schmidt is a French national. He and his wife were members of “The Citadel”, an evangelical church. In 1993, their daughter, aged three, was placed in care in France. This was authorised by a French children’s judge who found that Citadel children were cut off from the “Satanic” outside world, obliged to observe frequent fasts, had limits placed on their sleep and, as punishment, were slapped and hit with belts. The judge concluded that, if the child remained with her parents, her “psychological balance and development was likely to be seriously compromised”. For this reason, the judge authorised the child’s removal." When reading this I was immediately reminded of the children of the Westboro Baptist Church in the US, the focus of a Louis Theroux TV show. These children were subjected to hate and maybe psychological harm through their association with the church – their parents took them on pickets of funerals. They too were ‘cut off from the Satanic outside world’ although there is no suggestion they were physically harmed or abused by church members. And what about the fringes around established religion here in the UK? Christianity, Islam, Hinduism … there could be extremists bringing up children and ‘educating’ them everywhere. How would we know when children are being harmed? By the way, my recommended reading for now is The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.16355 2007-10-24T09:28:35Z 2007-10-24T09:36:11Z

I had flashbacks yesterday to the world created in George Orwell’s book, 1984, when I heard about the Ministry of Justice’s plan to pilot Peer Justice Centres, run by and for children, in England....

Caroline Lovell I had flashbacks yesterday to the world created in George Orwell’s book, 1984, when I heard about the Ministry of Justice’s plan to pilot Peer Justice Centres, run by and for children, in England.]]> Not dissimilar to the power given to the child Spies and Youth Lead in Orwell’s Oceania, who informed on their peers and parents over thought crimes, this wacky idea will see children, as young as ten, sitting on a panel to pass legal judgement over other children. Plucked from the heartland of craziness, also known as the United States of America, the justice secretary, Jack Straw, has invested nearly £500,000 into three pilot projects in Preston, which could go nationwide if it is a success. In place of magistrate courts, offenders aged under-17, who have admitted their guilt for a minor offence or anti-social behaviour, will face a panel of four children under minimal adult supervision. Run by the local authority and the crime reduction charity, NACRO, children from local schools will be trained up to issue Acceptable Behaviour Contracts when they sit on the peer panels. If the offender does not abide by the ABC, which could force them to clean up graffiti or apologise to the victim, the child will be referred to the police. The most alarming part of this whole pilot project for me is the level of power passed to children. I don’t think kids have the maturity, experience, or balance to pass such important judgements over their peers. If you look at the politics that collide in school playgrounds, you quickly see that children are fickle creatures, who are easily influenced by their peers and subject to intimidation and bullying. This shouldn’t transfer into the court room. tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.15672 2007-10-10T14:45:06Z 2007-10-10T14:56:39Z

I am having a crisis of faith. I thought every child was supposed to matter. Yet just this week, I came across a 12-year-old boy whose story suggests otherwise....

Lauren I am having a crisis of faith. I thought every child was supposed to matter. Yet just this week, I came across a 12-year-old boy whose story suggests otherwise.]]> Your new home. That’s it. No warning; no chance to pack your stuff up; no chance to say goodbye to the other boy that was living there with you; no chance to say goodbye or thank you to the staff who have been working with you and caring for you. How can this happen? The government goes on and on about the importance of placement stability and continuity of care. The draft national contract for children and young people in residential care says that providers should give local authorities no less than three months’ notice of a home closure. Yet here we have an example of a clear lack of planning on one side or the other of a placement arrangement that has resulted in a vulnerable child being forced to deal with yet more sudden upheaval. Whatever the reason, it cannot be good enough. Fortunately, this boy has landed in a good home that has already pledged to maintain his previous school placement so as to offer him at least some of that much talked about stability. But he did not arrive with all his medical notes, and his sudden arrival has impacted on the other young residents in his new home who had no time to prepare either. Faced with new surroundings and new faces, this young man displays an amazing capacity for resilience. Sadly, though, I suspect this is not a positive characteristic he was born with, but more a coping mechanism he has developed as a result of being rejected and let down time and again. An experience like this will do nothing to make this 12-year-old believe that he really matters. Nothing like this must ever be allowed to happen again. ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.15601 2007-10-09T15:51:41Z 2007-10-09T15:58:30Z

By Clare Jerrom Thank god Staffordshire Council are investigating child protection concerns at Werrington Young Offender Institution ....

Simeon Brody By Clare Jerrom Thank god Staffordshire Council are investigating child protection concerns at Werrington Young Offender Institution .]]> special cells where disruptive children would be placed to “calm down”. Shortly after my piece was published I was contacted by the Home Office press office who were horrified that I could write such rubbish but just a month later the Home Office revealed in a parliamentary question that these cells didn’t just exist in Stoke Heath as they’d admitted, but actually in 13 youth establishments and had been used more than 150 times in one year. The thought of being placed in a small room wearing nothing but a garment similar to a horse blanket, with no toilet, food, poor light etc would hardly “calm me down”. I think it would distress and frighten me and probably make me very angry. This wasn’t the only thing I discovered. Children were routinely strip searched and restrained in prison and driven from court to establishments in appalling conditions. In the escort vans they would be put in cages with no seat belts and forced to endure long journeys with no breaks for the toilet or food. If they needed to urinate, they had to do so in the van cell and were then expected to clean it out on arrival at prison. So when I heard that Staffordshire Council was going to investigate these claims, I was more than pleased. In my opinion, too many practices that would be deemed completely alarming outside the prison gate are somehow accepted within the prison walls. Yes, some of these children will have committed crimes and will be serving their time. But treating them like animals is hardly likely to incentivise them to be a model citizen in future – if anything it will make them hate the system even more and make them all the more determined to do a better job at not being caught next time. And then some of these children are on remand and haven’t been found guilty yet – yet they are still subjected to these inhumane conditions. I take my hat off to Staffordshire Council and hope other councils follow suit when they are alerted to similar concerns by the good work Anne Owers are her team carry out. ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.15278 2007-10-03T13:38:47Z 2007-10-03T13:43:45Z

By Clare Jerrom Obesity levels among children are rising. Children are getting fatter. And I have to say that I’m not surprised as I make my daily trip to work surrounded by school children....

Simeon Brody By Clare Jerrom Obesity levels among children are rising. Children are getting fatter. And I have to say that I’m not surprised as I make my daily trip to work surrounded by school children.]]> Jamie Oliver has done wonders for school dinners. But there’s little point having a nutritious meal at lunch time if these kids have started the day with a burger and head straight to the chippie after school. I challenge Oliver to look at these children’s eating habits out of school if he really wants to have the long term healthy effects he so desperately craves for the youth of today. ]]> tag:www.communitycare.co.uk,2007:/blogs/childrens-services//9.15206 2007-10-02T14:30:44Z 2007-10-02T14:51:38Z

By Clare Jerrom You have to feel for Britney Spears. After a very public meltdown, she has, within a matter of weeks, fallen out with her family, made an appalling “comeback” at the MTV Music Video Awards, been dropped by...

Simeon Brody By Clare Jerrom You have to feel for Britney Spears. After a very public meltdown, she has, within a matter of weeks, fallen out with her family, made an appalling “comeback” at the MTV Music Video Awards, been dropped by her management company and yesterday she lost custody of her children to ex husband Kevin Federline – aka K-Fed. ]]> pictured out partying with fellow celebrity Paris Hilton, snapped canoodling a man topless in a swimming pool, publicly shaved her head, attacked paparazzi with an umbrella, gone into rehab - I could go on. Call me old fashioned but I feel this behaviour is a direct result of being thrust into the limelight at such a young age. At just age she was 8 she was auditioning for the Disney Channel series the Mickey Mouse Club. She was deemed too young. Prophetic words. However by 11 she joined the Mickey Mouse Club where incidentally she met ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake. The list of celebrities who have success at a young age and end up in their early twenties with a variety of problems are well documented: Amy Winehouse’s current troubles are all over every tabloid every day and Robbie Williams, Daniella Westbrook Kerry Katona are just three who have admitted their problems in their autobiographies. There has to be a link. Children should be allowed to be children and enjoy their youth, playing hide and seek, crabbing at the beach, collecting feathers. And I’m afraid children who are sent to stage school and made to compete from a young age miss out on all that. Britney tried to make her stage comeback last month hoping to regain her pop Princess title but critics slammed the performance. This will have undoubtedly knocked her confidence and now she has lost custody of her two children Sean Preston and Jayden James. I’m sure, that for now at least, judge Scott Gordon’s decision is the right one: Britney clearly needs help and the children need to be protected. Her former bodyguard has come out saying there were "issues of nudity by Ms Spears, drug use, and safety issues involving the children post-rehab". If there are child protection concerns, the children certainly have to be placed in a safe environment. But I fear that without the incentive of her children to focus on, who will give her a reason to get herself straight for, Britney’s mental health will get worse. I hope that while the children are now deemed to be in a safe place that Britney can be placed in one too and that she finally gets the help and support she so clearly needs.

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