Chidren in Care

Only 1% of children in care go on to university, but helping them into further and higher education will help to reduce costs according to new guidance published by the National Institute for Health & Clinical Excellence. The new guidance says that more focus on training could lead to less unemployment, crime and mental health problems. Read the guidance in full here: Promoting the Quality of Life of Looked-after Children and Young People.

New Online Tool for Newly Qualified Social Workers in Adult Services

SCIE has just published a new online resource deisgned to help newly qualified social workers meet the 12 outcomes contained in the NQSW framework in adult services developed by Skills For Care. You will find useful resources, suggestions for evidence and links to current legislation and policy to help your continuing professional development. Although the primary focus is on adult services social workers in other settings will also find it useful. You can access it here: Newly Qualified Social Worker Resource.

New Refugee Website

A new website: The Refugee Education Initiative (REI) has been launched by Laura-Ashley Wright and Robyn Plasterer. It aims to be an international forum to link together researchers, professionals and the general public on issues related to refugee studies, forced migration and international education development. The site contains information on:

• Current events & policy
• Relevant websites, blogs and mailing lists
• Non-academic resources: films, books, art and music
• Academic resources: journals, publications etc.
• Work and volunteer oportunities
• Academic programs and scholarship opportunities

Students can also publish their work, blog about international experiences and link to other student networks in the UK, Canada and abroad. Any questions please e-mail them at:mailto: info@refugeeeducation.com

New Government Consultation Documents on Information & Choice within the NHS

The Secretary of State for Health has just published two new consultation documents about the NHS. These are: "Liberating the NHS: An Information Revolution" and "Liberating the NHS: Greater Choice and Control". The documents set out more of the government's vision of "putting patients first" as set out in the White Paper "Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS". They are about providing people with better information about health and social care services to improve outcomes. Links to these documents and further information may be found at: Liberating the NHS.

Coalition Government's New Vision For Social Care

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has just published a new research paper written by Emma Stone and Claudia Wood. Written in advance of Comprehensive Spending Review in October 2010 and the Coalition Government's new vision for social care (expected in early November); the paper:

• examines the fact that we are at a critical point in the history of social care reform
• poses the question: will the proposed funding settlement and statute be aligned with each other - will social care be designed around people's lives rather than services?

You can read the report in full here: A Funding Settlement That Works For People Not Services

The Teaching of Human Growth & Development, Disability and Mental Health on Qualifying Social Work Programmes

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has just published the following report about the teaching and learning of human growth and development, disability and mental health on qualifying social work programmes. The report can be read in full by clicking on the this link: How we become who we are: the teaching and learning of human growth and development, disability and mental health on qualifying social work programmes.

Globalisation and UK Poverty

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have published three papers as part of their programme on Globalisation that is intended to promote and explore the impact of globalisation in the UK and focuses on communities and people in poverty. The reports can be viewed by clicking on the links below:

• The links between global governance, UK poverty and welfare policy
• The impact of global governance on poverty in the UK
• How globalisation is changing patterns of marginalisation and inclusion in the UK

Drug Misuse

Research by the National Drug Treatment Agency into the long-term success of drug treatment programmes has found that nearly half of the people who participated in them in 2005 have been found to be free of their addiction and no longer committing crime four years after leaving treatment. The study (along with other online publications from the Agency) may be viewed here: http://www.nta.nhs.uk/publications.aspx?category=Treatment+outcomes+and+effectiveness

Child Protection

A major new survey by the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) of 1,390 social workers revealed that 70% admitted being unable to protect a child because of the constraints of their work. The survey also showed that 95% thought that social workers were having to make key decisions based on insufficient information. More than two thirds of social workers said that their job had caused them emotional or mental instability and, of those, 45% had taken time off work as a result. More on the survey can be read on the BASW website here: http://news.basw.co.uk/post/1221899361/major-basw-survey-reveals-child-protection-risks-of

New Research Reports on Children's Participation in Decision-Making

The National Children's Bureau (NCB) and the Children's Rights Alliance for England were commissioned in Autumn 2009 by the Office of the Commissioner to examine children's participation in decision-making in England. The research shows that young people often feel excluded from decisions which affect their lives though children and young people are one of the largest user groups of public services. The research also shows that national surveys about healthcare, quality of public service provision and civic activity often fail to ask them about their experiences.

You can download the series of reports here: http://www.participationworks.org.uk/npf/publications

New Publication on Older People with High Support Needs

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have just published the first publication from their new programme "A Better Life" - a new research programme looking at how we can improve the quality of life for older people with high support needs.

The full report considers what we know about the needs and situations of older people with high support needs from different equality groups and the barriers they face in service provision. You can view the report here: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/better-life-high-support-needs