A summary of social care stories from the main newspapers

By David Callaghan, Reg McKay and Alex Dobson.

‘Depraved’ foster parents to be jailed for
abuse and neglect

Two former foster parents were convicted of abusing and
assaulting children and a woman with special needs.

Jeff and Brenda Tanner were employed as foster carers by
Cambridgeshire council in the 1980s. King’s Lynn crown court
heard how Jeff Tanner forced a boy to eat faeces and drink urine.
Another victim was forced to dance naked while holding heavy
weights above her head.

All three of the victims, a boy, a girl and a woman, had special
educational needs.

Judge Isobel Plumstead, who reserved sentencing on the couple
from Peterborough until next month, said Jeff Tanner was the
principle abuser. The couple were convicted of more than 20 charges
in April. But for legal reasons the outcome of the trial could not
be reported until now.

A Cambridgeshire council spokesperson said improvements had been
made since the 1980s and early 1990s.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 12 June page 6

Labour revolt on asylum children runs out of
time

A revolt by backbench Labour MPs was averted last night when
time ran out before plans to prevent children of asylum seekers
attending mainstream schools could be debated.

Time ran out before the relevant clause of the Nationality,
Immigration and Asylum Bill could be discussed in the House of
Commons at the report stage of the bill.

David Blunkett had made a minor concession by saying children
would be taught in new accommodation centres for a maximum of nine
months.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Wednesday 12 June page 12

Troubled council faces takeover

Walsall council could face being taken over by a private sector
team after an Audit Commission report recommended government
intervention.

The powers to intervene, which have only been used in Hackney
before, could be used to take over from the chief executive, and
directors of education and social services.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 12 June page 10

Climbie case inquiry to investigate lost
evidence

Chief inspector of social services Denise Platt may be called to
the Climbie inquiry to explain why a document was submitted
late.

Click here to ready full report

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 12 June page 6

Guardian Society

Going nowhere

Illusion of progress in public services

Page 4

Harsh treatment

Successful clinic for child sex offenders set to close

Page 4

Inside story

Prison officers are going into schools with graphic descriptions
of the consequences of taking drugs. But is this controversial
approach the right one?

Page 5

In harm’s way

A pioneering unit for young people with mental illness is to
close, despite a nationwide lack of beds.

Page 136-135

Shut out of the fun

Young disabled people excluded by poor leisure facilities

Page 135

Shattering silence

Call for training to help children deal with tragic deaths

Page 135

Society facts: the benefits gap

Page 135

Scottish newspapers

Executive to allow banned brain surgery

Patients with mental health problems will undergo brain surgery
without their consent under the new Adults with Incapacity
(Scotland) Act 2000 to be implemented on 1 July.

Psychosurgery, also known as Neurosurgery for Mental Disorder
(NMD), is irreversible and raises a controversial debate among
health professionals regarding its effectiveness.

The United Nations passed a resolution in 1991 banning NMD and
similar surgery without the patient’s informed consent.
Scotland’s only NMD unit in Dundee reported last year that it
could not predict the patients who would benefit from NMD, and
would not use it without the patient’s consent.

Yet the executive is to proceed with a section of the Adults
with Incapacity (Scotland) Act 2000 which allows NMD to be
implemented without the patient’s consent, but only on the
say-so of the court of session.

The Scottish Association for Mental Health, Scotland’s
largest mental health organisation, is mounting a campaign urging
MSPs to reject the relevant regulations of the new legislation.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 12 June page 1

Welsh newspapers

Throw away the key call for second child-sex
crimes

A leading Welsh police officer says that there should be a ‘two
strikes, and you’re out’ system for dealing with
paedophiles.

Terry Grange, chief constable of Dyfed Powys Police and the
Association of Chief Police Officers spokesperson on child
protection, said that paedophiles that re-offend or kill a child
after leaving prison, should never be released.

Grange said that under human rights legislation convicted child
sex offenders who have served their sentence had to be given a
second chance, but where they commit another such crime he would
just “shut the door”.

Once convicted, paedophiles says Grange, should get treatment
and rehabilitation, and he would like to see more specialist
residential clinics for child sex offenders, such as Wolvercote in
Surrey, which has just announced that it is closing.

He has recently accused the government of ignoring child abuse
in favour of more populist issues like mobile phone theft.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 12 June page 1

Head faces three new sex charges

The former head of a network of children’s homes in north
Wales was yesterday charged with three new offences.

John Allen, formerly of Wrexham but now living in
Gloucestershire, had already been charged with 36 offences of a
serious sexual nature, and will appear at a preliminary hearing at
Mold crown court today to face the earlier charges.

Allen was the head of the Bryn Alyn community, a limited company
operating 11 residential homes in northeast Wales, Cheshire and
Shropshire, that provided specialist care for adolescents.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 12 June page 3