A daily summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By Clare Jerrom, David Callaghan and Alex
Dobson.

Child protection

Parents who are violent to their spouses could be refused
contact with their children after separation or divorce.

Courts will consider the harm to children who witness domestic
abuse under a landmark amendment to the Adoption and Children
Bill.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 22 May page 7

Blunkett rejects Ecstasy reforms

David Blunkett insisted ecstasy should remain a Class A drug
last night after MPs called for the move following a comprehensive
examination of Britain’s drug laws.

A Commons inquiry said the drug often used by night clubbers
should be grouped with amphetamines as opposed to cocaine and
heroin.

The home secretary dismissed the call saying: “Reclassification
of ecstasy is not on the government’s agenda. Ecstasy can, and does
kill unpredictably and there is no such thing as a safe dose.”

The recommendation that ecstasy be downgraded came from the home
affairs select committee, which concluded that for many young
people drug taking was a passing phase that caused them no long
term harm.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 22 May page 1

School-gate drug dealers face longer jail
sentences

The government is planning to introduce stiffer sentences for
drug dealers caught selling drugs close to schools.

Ivan Lewis, the minister with special responsibility for young
people, said the government intended to introduce an offence of
aggravated drug dealing.

He said people who deal drugs to school children are “scum” and
“low life”.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 22 May page 8

Dead mother used in 20-year benefit fiddle

A woman claimed benefits for her dead mother for 20 years before
being detected. Margaret Caffrey, 65, claimed more than
£100,000 in weekly claims from her local post office in Speke,
Liverpool.

She was jailed for six months at Liverpool crown court after
pleading guilty to obtaining property by deception.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Wednesday 22 May page 5

Breast feeding may help prevent cot death

Breastfeeding babies may help to protect them against cot death,
according to research.

Scientists have found that the babies of mothers who breastfeed
are slightly but significantly less likely to die of sudden infant
death syndrome, or cot death, than babies who are bottle fed.

The research was carried out in Norway, Sweden and Denmark,
headed by Brent Alm at Queen Silvia children’s hospital in
Gothenburg. The research is published in the medical journal
Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 22 May page 5

Guardian Society

Delivery hitch

Voluntary service funders ‘out of touch’

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 May page 4

Torn roots

After the bombing of Guernica, many Basque children were
evacuated to the UK. Sixty five years on, Peter Lennon spoke to
them about their experiences

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 May page 6

Moving targets

The hidden nature of child prostitution makes it a difficult
problem for the authorities to tackle

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 May page
128-127

A very telling tale

Faults and all book marks Scope’s 50^th
anniversary

Source:- Guardian Society Wednesday 22 May page 127

Scottish newspapers

Care homes bed crisis close to meltdown

As the bed blocking crisis in Edinburgh reaches meltdown point,
plans are afoot to requisition hotels, old hospital wards or old
army and student residences as care homes.

Last year, the number of older people waiting release from
hospital rose by 27 per cent to 548. The number of those held up
for social reasons rose by 46 per cent over the same period.

The problem is most severe in Edinburgh, which has lost 500
private care home beds in the past four years, according to report
for the Lothian NHS Board, which meets today.

Fifty three more went last month with the closure of two care
homes. The report says several hundred beds may be lost over the
next five years.

Four local authorities and a joint group of NHS Trusts plan to
build six 60 bed homes over the next two years at a cost of
£30 million.

The report calls for immediate stopgap measures which may
include the city council taking over NHS hospital wards.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 22 May 2002

Welsh newspapers

Estate takes on drug dealers

Residents of a Welsh housing estate are launching a concerted
campaign against drug dealers.

The people of the Sandfields estate in Port Talbot in west Wales
are taking action to protect their community from the threat of
drugs by making information, and support available to everyone
living on the estate.

The scheme called ‘Stop-Sandfields Takes On Pushers’
will involve sending out leaflets to the 5,000 plus homes, which
will give information on a confidential police hotline.

There will also be information on how to seek help and treatment
for those caught in the downward spiral of drug addiction.

Alison Ward who chairs the Neath Port Talbot local action team
on substance misuse said that drugs were becoming more and more of
a threat to the local communities, and that the only way to tackle
the problem effectively was to get everyone to work together.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 22 May page 9