News round-up: overlooked elderly, mum flees social services, SCR call

Councils ‘failing to prepare for ageing population’

The Audit Commission found that most local authorities have not made plans for how their services will be affected by the growth in the number of elderly people.

The failure to plan and reform services now raises the risk that services like housing and care will be unaffordable when today’s workers come to the retire.

Read more on this story in the Telegraph

While the parties squabble, the elderly see their lives and savings ebb away

Time and money are fast running out for David Gower. Everyday life is a challenge for the 75-year-old pensioner who has lost most of the power in his limbs. He cannot hold a pen or stand unaided for more than a couple of minutes.

Carers visit him four times a day to help him in and out of bed and cook his meals. He relies on a walking frame to manoeuvre around his small flat and can only leave home in a wheelchair.

Read more on this story in the Independent

Publish confidential child crime reports in full, say social workers

Confidential inquiries into crimes against children such as the Edlington torture case should be published in full, according to the body representing thousands of social workers.

The British Association of Social Workers is supporting moves to end the secrecy that characterises such inquiries, known as serious case reviews.

Read more on this story in the Times

Pregnant Briton who fled to Spain to prevent social services taking child gives birth to son

A pregnant British woman who fled abroad to avoid her child being taken into care by social services was recovering last night after giving birth to a son.

The woman and her fiance secretly moved to Spain in December after their first child, a daughter, was taken away by social workers and put up for adoption.