A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom and Reg McKay.

‘Foster parents should be paid £186 a
week’

Foster carers must be paid attractive packages in a bid to
persuade more adults to forgo well-paid jobs and careers to bring
up disadvantaged youngsters, a fostering organisation will say
today.

More than 40,000 children in Britain live with foster carers and
nearly all receive a weekly allowance to cover expenses. No payment
to reward their skills is made.

But the National Foster Care Association, which is changing its
name to the Fostering Network, says that “reward payments”, and
access to pensions should be introduced to tackle the shortage of
carers.

It says the “standards of foster care in the UK will fall below
an unacceptable level” unless important changes are introduced to
the system.

The amount carers receive in expenses varies between £50 to
£300 a week. Carers do not qualify for state benefits and do
not receive pension contributions.

The network suggests carers are paid £93 a week for
children under four, rising to £186 for a child over 16, with
higher rates in London.

Source:- The Independent Friday 2 November
page 9

Violent patients denied treatment

Persistently violent and abusive patients could be denied
treatment for up to a year, under guidelines announced yesterday by
health secretary Alan Milburn.

Hospitals and clinics should become a “zero tolerance zone” for
violence and doctors and nurses should not have to tolerate
unacceptable conduct from people in their care.

Around 65,000 assaults on NHS staff are reported each year.

Speaking at a conference in Bournemouth, Milburn said every NHS
trust would be expected to draw up clear rules outlining the type
of behaviour that could lead to withdrawal of treatment. This could
include verbal abuse, threats, violence or drug abuse in
hospital.

Patients with mental health problems, and those requiring
emergency treatment or suffering life-threatening conditions would
not be denied treatment.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 2 November page 11

Lord Woolf sets 12 year tariff for head’s
killer

The man who killed headmaster Philip Lawrence will not be
considered for release from prison until 2008, the lord chief
justice said yesterday.

Lord Woolf set a sentence tariff of 12 years for Learco
Chindamo, who was 15 when he stabbed Lawrence as he intervened in a
fight outside his school in west London.

As a result of human rights rulings in the Bulger case, the
courts rather than the home secretary now determine the tariffs for
juveniles.

Lord Woolf said he had decided to uphold the recommendation of
the trial judge that Chindamo should serve at least 12 years before
being considered for release.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 2 November page 6

Scottish newspapers

Housing transfer ballot may be delayed

It is expected that the Scottish executive will today announce
that the ballot of tenants regarding the controversial proposed
transfer of Glasgow’s council houses to the independent
Glasgow Housing Association will be delayed until March next year
rather than the original date of this November.

If the proposal is accepted by the tenants, the £4 billion
transfer would be the largest of its kind in the UK, and would see
the treasury write off Glasgow Council’s £1 billion
housing debt.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 2 November page 2

Child abuse teacher wins appeal

The teacher convicted of assaulting his seven-year-old daughter
has won his appeal against being struck off the teaching
register.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found guilty
of assaulting his daughter at Hamilton Sheriff Court in June 1999
following the incident in a dentist’s waiting room in
December 1998.

He was suspended from his post on full pay and in May 2000 the
General Teaching Council decided he had been found guilty of an
offence which rendered him unfit to be a teacher.

The man has been working at a resource centre for his employer,
North Lanarkshire Council, ever since. In a rare move, three judges
at the court of session found in favour of the teacher on the
grounds that the there were flaws in the GTC’s disciplinary
procedures.

The GTC said that it had introduced new procedures and would
review the court’s decision on that basis. North Lanarkshire
Council said it was too early to indicate whether or not the man
would return to his teaching post.

Source:- The Herald Friday 2 November page 3