Category Archives: News

The Department for Education has published a review of the Edlington case written by Lord Carlile

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The Department for Education has published a review of the Edlington case written by Lord Carlile at the request of Michael Gove. Recommendations include: compliance with the Troubled Families Programme should be the subject of an annual report; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) should work closely with Children’s Services on the assessment and treatment of conduct disorders; a designated family judge should be asked to participate as an advisor in all serious case reviews; two versions of serious case reviews should be produced, a closed version and an open one; and there should be national agreement on threshold guidance, shared with all professionals.
Source: Department for Education press release 16 November 2012
Further information:
The Edlington Case (PDF)

Community Care has published findings from a survey about social workers in family courts

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Community Care has published findings from a survey about social workers in family courts. Findings include, of the 185 social workers and guardians asked: 55% said they felt their professional judgement is ‘never’ or only ‘sometimes’ respected by judges and lawyers; and 35% said they felt ‘very’ or ‘quite’ unconfident when giving evidence and being cross examined.
Source: Community Care 14 November 2012

The Department for Education are consulting on draft legislation on ethnicity and “fostering for adoption

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The Department for Education are consulting on draft legislation on ethnicity and “fostering for adoption”. The two draft clauses up for discussion place a duty on local authorities to give preference to “Fostering for Adoption” placements and remove the express duty on adoption agencies to give due consideration to religion, race, culture and language when matching children with prospective adopters. The deadline for submissions is 30 November 2012.
Source: Department for Education
Further information:
Draft legislation on Adoption: Early Permanence through ‘Fostering for Adoption’ and Matching for Adoption. (PDF)

ChildLine has published a report about children’s experiences of sexual grooming

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ChildLine has published a report about children’s experiences of sexual grooming. Findings include, during 2011/12: 5% (15,993) of contacts received by ChildLine were about sexual abuse, making it the fifth most common reason for contact; in 413 counselling interactions the child specifically described aspects of sexual grooming; and in cases involving grooming where the age was known, the age group with the highest number of counselling interactions was 12-15 year olds (62%).
Source: NSPCC Press Release 15 November 2012
Further information:
Caught in a trap: the impact of grooming in 2012. (PDF)

In demand: therapeutic services for children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse.

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In demand: therapeutic services for children and young people who have experienced sexual abuse.
Summary: Reports on an NSPCC study into the estimated need for services across the UK for sexually abused children and young people. Findings include: low specialist service provision with need outstripping availability; limited referral routes; significant waiting lists necessitating more reactive than preventive work; and less accessibility for teenagers, children with disabilities and those from Black, Asian, minority ethnic and refugee groups. The need for training, and the commissioning of services to meet the shortfall in provision is identified.
Publication details: Child Abuse Review (Vol.21, Iss.5) Sept-Oct 2012 pp 318-334
Authors: Debra Allnock, Lorraine Radford, Lisa Bunting, Avril Price, Natalie Morgan-Klein, Jane Ellis and Anne Stafford

Bed sharing: is it worth the risk?

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Bed sharing: is it worth the risk?
Summary: Considers the risks of co-sleeping in relation to sudden infant death, in a report on the Dr WE (Bill) Parish Memorial Lecture 2012 given by Professor Ed Mitchell of the University of Auckland Department of Paediatrics. Looks at the research around this topic and concludes that bed sharing has more risks than benefits.
Publication details: Community Practitioner (Vol.85, Iss.11) November 2012 pp 14-15
Authors: Chloe Harries

Potential mediators of adjustment for preschool children exposed to intimate partner violence.

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Potential mediators of adjustment for preschool children exposed to intimate partner violence.
Summary: Examines how children’s post-traumatic stress reactions may mediate the relationship between violence exposure and internalising and externalising adjustment problems. 120 mothers from the US and Canada with children aged 4-6 years provided information about themselves and their children. Found that on average, mothers reported 191 instances of intimate partner violence in the past year. There was a partial mediating effect of traumatic stress symptoms on externalising problems and full mediating effects for internalising and total adjustment difficulties.
Publication details: Child Abuse and Neglect (Vol.36, Iss.9) September 2012 pp 671-675
Authors: Laura E. Miller, Kathryn H. Howell and Sandra A. Graham-Bermann

Safeguarding the needs of children and young people seeking asylum in the UK: addressing past failings and meeting future challenges.

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Safeguarding the needs of children and young people seeking asylum in the UK: addressing past failings and meeting future challenges.
Summary: Looks at the position of children and young people within the immigration system in the UK and concludes that there is a failure to respond to the rights and needs of children and a failure of statutory services to apply key legislation in order to provide welfare support. Recent changes in the system are discussed but the need for significant improvement to services is still considered as necessary. Includes references to relevant legal cases.
Publication details: Child Abuse Review (Vol.21, Iss.5) Sept-Oct 2012 pp 335-348
Authors: Rachel Hek, Nathan Hughes and Roberto Ozman

Constructing risk and avoiding need: findings from interviews with social workers and police officers involved in safeguarding work with migrant children.

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Constructing risk and avoiding need: findings from interviews with social workers and police officers involved in safeguarding work with migrant children.
Summary: Reports on a qualitative study looking at agencies working with children at a port of entry into the UK, in particular children arriving unaccompanied. Interviews with social workers and police, asking for their views of multi-agency safeguarding and assessment practices, found tensions between workers and roles. Suggests the need for the development of cultural skills and the use of interpreters in assessment work.
Publication details: Child Abuse Review (Vol.21, Iss.5) Sept-Oct 2012 pp 349-361
Authors: Joanne L. Westwood

A Child Protection Week: an effective method of hospital-wide training.

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A Child Protection Week: an effective method of hospital-wide training.
Summary: Discusses the findings of a study into hospital-wide knowledge and the effects of a Child Protection Week on this knowledge, skills and attitudes. The week was organised by the Child Protection Forum in a large hospital in the south-west of England and was followed up with a survey of all employees. Staff were more likely after the week to declare knowledge of signs of abuse, child protection procedures, understanding of what would happen following a referral and where to get further training, following the week. Includes a description of the awareness week’s activities and the self-report survey.
Publication details: Child Abuse Review (Vol.21, Iss.5) Sept-Oct 2012 pp 362-369
Authors: Helen Brewer, Claire Mitchell and Richard Tomlinson