A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom.

Eurotunnel in asylum crisis

The Channel link between Britain and France is being pushed to
crisis point, as a result of the thousands of asylum seekers who
clamber aboard Eurotunnel trains in France in a desperate bid to
reach Britain.

Trains are delayed daily as up to 150 people breach security
perimeters at the Calais terminal each night, and board trains
loaded with lorries or freight.

Philippe Lazare, chief executive of Eurotunnel, wrote in a
leaked memo of the “injustice felt by staff faced with the
constant, relentless and organised illegal intrusion of immigrants
on our terminal”.

Eurotunnel insists the Red Cross centre nearby is being used as
a waiting room for people trying to reach England.

Source:- The Times Friday 13 July page 6

Children’s art reveals silent
anxieties

A new system of analysing child art has been devised at
Manchester university by a team of clinical psychiatrists.

Senior lecturer in child psychiatry Jonathan Green said that
existing methods of analysing child art is deeply flawed because it
relies too heavily on clinicians subjective impressions.

The new system devised by Green was explained at the Royal
College of Psychiatrists’ annual conference in London. It
uses 23 indicators to analyse drawings of individual figures and
family groups by five to seven-year-olds.

These include omission of body parts, position of figures, for
example children who draw family groupings in which the child is
very close to the mother could be suffering anxiety caused by the
mother’s depression.

Source:- The Times Friday 13 July page 8

Care inquiry

The social exclusion unit will investigate why 70 per cent of
children in care leave school with no qualifications, compared with
a national average of less than 10 per cent.

Children in care are also ten times more likely to be excluded
from school.

Source:- The Times Friday 13 July page 9

Blair fails to close rich-poor gap

Inequality was not reduced in Tony Blair’s first three
years in office, according to statistics to be revealed today.

Work and pensions secretary Alistair Darling will defend the
government’s record by pointing out that the standard of
living among the poor has risen in absolute terms.

During the election, Blair said that the gap between rich and
poor was not a big issue. He said it was more important that the
poor became wealthier.

Darling will reveal the inequality when he publishes the
households below average income survey, which covers 1999-2000.

He is expected to argue the government’s anti-poverty
strategies had not been fully implemented by spring 2000.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 13 July page 12

Climbie inquiry hires detectives

Private investigators have been introduced to the inquiry into
the death of Victoria Climbie, who was abused and died with 128
separate injuries.

The investigators will find key witnesses in health, social
services and police, after many failed to reply to letters.

Victoria’s aunt and her boyfriend were jailed earlier this
year for killing the eight-year-old.

Source:- The Independent Friday 13 July page
4

Cannabis users ‘five times more prone to
violence’

Cannabis users are five times more likely to demonstrate
violence than those who avoid the drug, a study revealed.

Research showed young men who took the drug were more prone to
violence than those who drank too much alcohol.

Psychologists studying the behaviour of 961 young adults in New
Zealand found a third of young men with a cannabis habit had a
court conviction for violence by the age of 21, or had displayed
violent behaviour.

The results were reported at the Royal College of Psychiatrists
annual meeting in London yesterday.

Source:- The Independent Friday 13 July page
10