Perinatal mental health
The Maternal Mental Health Alliance has launched a mapping tool which sets out standards relating to all the services that support women with perinatal mental illness and their families. It is designed to enable local partners to rate their current service offer against the standards.
Source: Maternal Mental Health Alliance Date: 23 September 2016
The impact of online pornography on the values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of children
The NSPCC and the Children’s Commissioner asked Middlesex University to look into how many children have been exposed to pornography and the impact for them of viewing such content.
The research consisted of an online survey of 1001 children and young people aged 11-16 across the UK, an online discussion forum and online focus groups.
Authors: Elena Martellozzo, Andy Monaghan, Joanna R Adler, Julia Davidson, Rodolfo Leyva and Miranda AH Horvath
Published: 2016
Source: NSPCC
Download the report – click here
Most boys think online pornography is realistic, finds study
Research reveals that 94% of children who have seen online pornography were exposed to it by age 14 and many saw images by accident in pop-up ads.
The majority of boys who view online pornography believe it provides a realistic depiction of sex, according to the most extensive survey of British secondary school pupils undertaken.
Source: The Guardian
Children as young as FIVE accused of sex attacks in schools – The number of sex crimes reported at UK schools has nearly trebled in four years with children as young as five accused of offences.
The crimes reported rose from 719 in 2011-12 to nearly 2,000 in 2014-15, an average of 10 offences every school day, with rape, child prostitution and sexual grooming all recorded.
In England, boys and girls as young as five were accused of carrying out sexual offences, while the youngest alleged victims were also five-years-old.
This included a five-year-old girl who was accused of sexual assault on a boy under 13, and a five year-old boy who was accused of sexual activity involving a girl under 13.
In Wales, the youngest alleged victim of a sexual offence was just four, although no details of the allegation or the child’s gender were given.
Source: Daily Mirror
A council has put a temporary hold on fining parents who take their children out of school for up to 10 days. The The Stoke Sentinel reports that Staffordshire County Council issued new guidance to schools and families on term-time holidays following a recent court ruling in the Isle of Wight case, where a father successfully challenged a fine for unauthorised absence on the basis of his child’s previously good attendance record. The temporary hold will be in place until the Supreme Court, which the Isle of Wight case has been referred to, rules on it.
Government consults on criminal offences for social workers who fail to act on abuse
A duty on social workers to report or take action on child abuse, with criminal sanctions for practitioners who fail to comply, could be introduced in England under proposals published for consultation by the government.
Two potential duties are being looked at by the Home Office; a mandatory reporting duty, or a ‘duty to act’, both of which would place the reporting of child abuse on a statutory footing.
The ‘duty to act’ would require certain practitioners or organisations to take appropriate action (which could include reporting) if they had reasonable cause to suspect that child abuse or neglect was taking place. There is currently no legal duty meaning social workers have to do this, only an acknowledgement in the Working Together guidance that they should.
The consultation document says “a range of sanctions” for professionals who fail to report child abuse or neglect could be made available, from “employer and/or regulatory sanctions to criminal sanctions”.
Source: Community Care
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One in 12 adoptions in England are now made to same-sex couples, research has found. According to New Family Social, three quarters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Britain going through the adoption process also actively consider adopting siblings.
Source: http://www.newfamilysocial.org.uk/lgbt-adopters-keen-to-adopt-siblings-but-most-are-matched-with-single-children/
The number of pupils in England with special educational needs (SEN) has fallen. According to data from the Department for Education, the number of pupils with SEN has fallen from 1,301,445 in 2015 to 1,228,785 in 2016 – a reduction of 5.58 per cent.
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-special-educational-needs-sen
Mental health projects in England will receive £55 million from lottery funds to support young people.
Authorities in Blackpool, Kent and Newham in London have each been awarded £10 million to “spot the early signs”, the Big Lottery Fund (BLF) said.
Council-led schemes in Cornwall and Wolverhampton were each granted nearly £9 million while £7.8 million will go towards a five-year project in Hull.
Lyn Cole, BLF grant-making director, said funds would “tackle stigma”.
She said: “Mental health issues in early teens, if not tackled early, can develop into more serious conditions, impacting on school results and opportunities later on in life.”
The Children’s Commissioner for England has published a one-year business plan for implementing her 5 year strategy Ambitious for children. Themes include: growing up with positive childhoods; being ambitious for every child in care; seeing a major reduction in children being harmed and neglected; reduce inequalities for children and break the cycle of disadvantage.
Source: Children’s Commissioner for England Date: 11 July 2016
Further information: Ambitious for children 2016/17 (PDF)
