Exam failures mean bleak future for children in care

Exam failures mean bleak future for children in care
A report from Barnardo’s on education of looked-after children.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 22

Self-harm estimates too low
More than one in ten teenage girls harm themselves — far more than previously estimated, a study suggests. The research was conducted among more than 6,000 pupils aged 15 and 16 in schools in Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Birmingham.
Source:- The Times, Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 24

School-gate campaign cuts teen pregnancies by 22%
A controversial scheme to cut teenage pregnancies, which included giving a contraceptive injection to a girl in a McDonald’s lavatory, has been highly successful and will be used as an example to others, it was disclosed yesterday.
The scheme in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, cut teenage conceptions by 22 per cent over the past six years.
Source:- The Independent, Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 8

Care kids face legal aid storm
The country’s most vulnerable children face being abandoned under plans to cut their lawyer’s fees, it has been warned. Solicitors who represent kids in care face the salary cap in a £2billion legal aid shake-up.
Source:- The Daily Mirror, Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 23

New in the UK: the ‘guest’ workforce who don’t stay long
Over 12,000 of  migrants to the European Union who have registered to work in Britain are employed in the care industry, Home Office figures published yesterday have shown.
In total, 447,000 migrants from the EU had registered as of June this year, amid evidence that an increasing proportion of migrants want to stay for under two years.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 4

Mother arrested after girl, 9, treated for heroin use
A mother was being questioned by Hartlepool police on suspicion of child cruelty after her daughter was treated for taking heroin and then taken into the care of social services.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 10

Blair to face union anger at NHS reforms
Tony Blair is likely to face a hostile reception at next month’s Trades Union Congress annual conference over his
NHS reform plans, which are opposed by a coalition of unions, led by Unison.
Source:- The Guardian, Wednesday 23 August 2006, page 7

Race watchdog in warning to Department of Health
The Commission for Racial Equality is considering investigating the Department of Health for a failure to scrutinise policies for their impact on black and minority ethnic people. The CRE says several policies, including this year’s health and social care white paper, have not received a race equality impact assessment, and has threatened to use its powers under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 to investigate the DH.
Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006 page 12

Break out
Jon Scott explains the disillusion that caused him to quit his job as a prison governor this year.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006 page 1-2

Taking notes, minister?
Health experts offer health secretary Patricia Hewitt tips on improving her NHS reforms without any hint of a U-turn.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006 page 3

Moral crusader
Work and Pensions secretary John Hutton has said the government will tackle worklessness among lone parents and unemployed people in single-earner couples to help meet its target of halving child poverty by 2010.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006 page 5

Uncertain age
More and more older African Caribbeans are facing the prospect of residential care as children become less able to look after their parents, contrary to previous generations.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006 page 6

Labour pains
Migrants from Eastern Europe are more likely to face exploitation and poor living conditions than enjoy economic prosperity.
Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 23 August 2006 page 7

Scottish news
Orkney ‘sex abuse’ children speak out on TV
Children at the centre of the Orkney “ritual sex abuse” case 15 years ago have spoken of their experience for the first time in a TV documentary.
In 1991 nine children from four families were taken in dawn raids from their South Ronaldsay homes and placed in council care over allegations they’d been the victims of ritual abuse and that a child paedophile ring was operating on the island.
But they were returned to their parents after five weeks when a sheriff found the case was “fatally flawed” and threw it out of court.
Source:- The Scotsman, Wednesday 23 August 2006

Welsh news
Bid to safeguard care homes as cash crisis bites
Uncertainty hangs over the future of council-run care homes for older people in Wales as local authorities face a cash crisis. In Blaenau Gwent, AM Trish Law is seeking urgent talks with ministers to try and prevent the closure of four homes in her constituency. However the situation there is likely to be replicated across Wales.
Source:- Western Mail,  Wednesday 23 August 2006