More than 200 social workers have called for action to end child deaths in custody in a petition which will be delivered to the prime minister today.
A further 100 voluntary sector workers, 109 youth offending team workers and 80 probation staff have also backed the call led by the Howard league for Penal Reform.
The petition says that no child should die in the custody of the state, that penal custody for children should end and that if a child’s liberty has to be restricted they must be kept safe. It has 3,642 signatories in total.
The petition is part of a national campaign by the Howard League to highlight the number of deaths of children in penal custody. Since 1990, 29 children have died in prisons and secure training centres and the group are using leaflets, training conferences for practitioners and parliamentary actions to try and end penal custody for children.
Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said today: “More than 40% of the children in custody are designated as being vulnerable and every day more and more children are sent into custody. Just last week, Lord Carlile’s inquiry into children in custody showed that some of their treatment would in another setting be considered abusive and could trigger a child protection investigation. Penal custody must be avoided if we are to save the lives of children.”
An Early Day Motion (number 827) supporting the campaign was signed by 92 MPs, including 39 Conservative, 38 Labour and 9 Liberal Democrat MPs.
Social workers urge an end to child deaths in custody
February 28, 2006 in Child safeguarding, Self harm/suicide, Youth justice
More from Community Care
Related articles:
Job of the week
Featured jobs
Employer Zone
‘Solutions can’t be scripted here – you have to be creative’
Putting a team around the social worker to make a difference to families
How working in residential care enables staff to build one-on-one relationships with young people
‘We will always challenge ourselves to transform our services to improve outcomes for children and families’
‘It’s our job is to observe the child, find their voice and be their advocate’
Employer zone – showcasing a selection of the sector’s top recruiters
Community Care Inform
Latest stories
Care review urges national social work pay scales to reward expertise and boost retention
‘Why only specialist child protection teams will tackle the annual child death toll’
Frontline’s social work qualification rates lower than other fast-track schemes’, data shows
‘Considerable investment’ in social work helps twice inadequate-rated council rise to ‘good’
Comments are closed.