Social services ruled Shannon Matthews was safe

December 5, 2008 in Child safeguarding, Family justice, Fostering and adoption

Social services ruled Shannon Matthews was safe

Shannon Matthews was kidnapped after social workers dropped her from the child protection register because they decided that she was no longer at risk of harm.

Social services became involved with her six years ago because of fears about her welfare. In late 2003, they ruled that no further involvement was necessary.

Read more on this story in The Times

Shannon neighbour raised alarm THREE times about terrible conditions she endured but social services did nothing

Social workers were told three times about the terrible conditions endured by Shannon Matthews before she was kidnapped by her own mother, it has emerged.

Couple fight adoption ‘injustice’

A couple who claim they suffered a miscarriage of justice when three of their children were adopted after they were accused of inflicting multiple fractures on the youngest child yesterday went to the appeal court to reunite the family.

Mark Webster, 35, and Nicky, 28, say the injuries to the boy, referred to as B, were due to scurvy, brought on by his acute eating problems, which saw him existing on an exclusive diet of soya milk.

Doctors who discovered six fractures said the injuries were non-accidental. The Websters have not seen the children since January 2005, when they were aged five, three and two.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

We’re freezing at night, say prisoners

Lags at one Victorian jail say they are being treated worse than dogs during the cold spell. Inmates of HM Prison Preston claim some prisoners with circulation problems could lose “limbs or even lives” through cold.

DNA ‘innocents’ must be wiped after landmark human rights ruling

More than one and a half million DNA and fingerprint profiles of innocent people could be wiped from police databases after a landmark human rights ruling.

Over-60s on dole to be targeted in welfare crackdown

Jobless over-60s are to be targeted in a welfare crackdown to get them back to work.

Work Secretary James Purnell believes there are thousands of people just below retirement age who claim benefits but are not looking for jobs.

I have seen close up how social workers can be seized by paralysis

Balancing the child’s needs and those of the parents can be intolerable, says Louise Emanuel