Children In Care Get "A Raw Deal" Say MPs In New Report

Children in care "get a raw deal" and the government is not doing enough to help them, MPs have said in a new report.

The report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee "Children in Care" says that in particular, the Department of Education shows "alarming reluctance to play an active role" in improving the lot of these children.

The report comes a day after Ofsted found child social care inadequate or requiring improvement in three quarters of the English local authorities it inspected last year, with services under "intense pressure".

The report says that 62% of children in care have suffered abuse and neglect but "too many still do not get the right placement first time, too many are moved too often, and too few are placed close to their homes."

In 2012-13 more than a third of children in care had more than one placement during the year, while a third of children in residential care and 14% of fostered children were placed more than 20 miles from home, it found.

The MPs say such instability can have a long term impact on emotional and physical health, social development, education and future employment prospects. They describe the gap in educational attainment between children in care and their peers as "shockingly wide".

The report urges the Department of Education to take an interest in the outcomes of its initiatives, evaluate progress and share successful practice.

It also urges the setting up of a national database of missing children, arguing that without such a register it is harder to find children who go missing from care, including victims of sex exploitation.

MPs also want the DfE to set out how it will attract more high-quality people into social work, to allow Ofsted to inspect council children's services more frequently and involve the watchdog in improvements between inspections.

On TV Tonight: Baby P, the Untold Story

Tonight (27th October 2014) on BBC 1 at 8.30 pm there will be a documentary entitled Baby P: the Untold Story.

The 90 minute film hears from those directly involved in the investigation into the death of Baby P in 2007.

Film-maker Henry Singer's documentary detailing the timeline of events leading to the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and her boyfriend's brother in August 2007, and considering its aftermath. The programme examines how some powerful institutions evaded the spotlight, while public attention was focused on the involvement of social workers in the infant's home area of Haringey, north London. Among the interviewees featured in the film are social workers Gillie Christou and Maria Ward, then-Children's Secretary Ed Balls MP and the husband of the last medical practitioner to see Peter before he died.

New Ofsted Report Says The Extent Of Child Neglect Is "Not Understood"

A new report by Ofsted claims that local authorities are not doing enoguh to protect children from neglect.

The report Child Neglect: The Scandal That Never Breaks states that figures suggest that most children know another child suffering from neglect. The Ofsted inspectors found "inconsistent approaches" to assessing neglect, and conclude that children are being left for too long in harmful situations in nearly half of the long-term cases they examined.

The report also recommends that social work training is improved to increase professional understanding of the impact of neglect on children's lives.

You can read more about this report and its findings on the BBC News website here.

Children's Commissioner's Report Says Child-On-Child Abuse Is Shocking

An official report by the Office of the Children's Commissioner for England says that "shocking" sexual violence is being carried out by children against other children. The report says that the perpetrators could be 12 or 13, and rape is seen as "normal and inevitable" in some areas, especially among gangs. It also claims that bullying and sexist attitudes exist across the whole country.

The Research conducted by the University of Bedfordshire into sexual violence in gangs (It's wrong but you get used to it) suggested two-thirds of young people questioned (65%) knew of young women who had been pressurised or coerced into sexual activity. 


The report is the result of a two-year inquiry by the children's commissioner into child exploitation and gangs. It is being published alongside research on young people's understanding of consent to sex, and a study on the pressures on young people who have been raised in gang-affected neighbourhoods. It says legislation is there to protect children but agencies from the police to social services need to become far better at spotting children at risk and providing them with the necessary protection.

Some Useful books For Social Science Dissertations & Honours Projects

Social Workers Need Compulsory Substance Misuse Training Say Experts

Photograph by grant_loy

A report by the charity Adfam, revealed widespread fears that social workers are not given adequate training or effective managerial supervision on substance misuse and its impact on children and parenting.

Social work degrees should include compulsory training on substance misuse, drug charities have warned.

You can read the full article in Community Care here and also vote in their poll.

New Reports On Poverty From The Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Photograph by Ed Yourdon

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has recently published a series of reports looking at poverty in the UK. They are:

• The Links Between Housing & Poverty. A study looking at housing experience and its relationship to poverty and the role of housing in enabling people to take up employment.
• Measuring Child Poverty: A Consultation On Better MeasuresOf Child Poverty. JRF's response to the Department for Education on 'Measuring Child Poverty: a consultation on better measures of child poverty'.
• Poverty And Low Educational Achievement In Wales. Looks at the evidence and considers the best measures to improve educational achievement for children living in poverty in Wales.
• Poverty And Ethnicity In Northern Ireland. This study examines the evidence on how people across different ethnic groups in Northern Ireland experience poverty and how this affects their access to work and support, including key services.
• Monitoring Poverty And Social Exclusion in Scotland 2013. JRF's sixth study of poverty and social exclusion in Scotland highlights a huge rise in unemployment for under-25s, and stark and growing health inequalities.Using the latest Government data, it assesses a wide range of indicators including unemployment, education, and health.
• Monitoring Poverty And Sociual Exclusion 2012. Is tackling in-work poverty the key for anti-poverty initiatives?
  
  
  You can find even more reports on poverty by the JRF on their website here: http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications

Upcoming Conference On Working With People With Dementia & Their Carers

 
The University is to host a conference on working with people with dementia and their carers on 26th March.

Speakers will include:

• Dr Schoeman, Acting Consultant Psychiatrist, Older People's Mental Health, from Sept
• Toby Friedner, BBC Three Counties Radio, Presenter of Shrinkwrap (Disability & Mental Health Show)
• Larry Gardiner "Living with Dementia"
• Sheila Hartnett, RGN Project Lead for Dementia Care

To reserve a place, please contact:
The Social Work Office at
The Centre for the Development of Social Care Practice
on 01582 743372

New Free Film & Resources For Working With Older People

Age UK Brighton & Hove and the University of Brighton have produced a film and learning resources which aim to develop ethical practice in supporting people to make decisions in later life, and contribute to their well-being.

The resources were produced as part of an ESRC funded Knowledge Exchange project. It brought together social care practitioners, older people and university researchers to develop the resources which are based on participatory research carried out by Professor Marian Barnes and Dr Lizzie Ward from the University of Brighton working in partnership with Age UK Brighton & Hove and a team of older co-researchers.

The research was designed to enable older people to talk in their own terms about what well-being means to them, and how it is produced. So the resources are based not only on findings about older people and well-being, but learning from the process of working with older people and with practitioners to generate and apply knowledge for policy and practice.


You can access the film and the accompanying handbook by going to:


http://www.brighton.ac.uk/sass/older-people-wellbeing-and-participation/

More training to identify and support victims of human trafficking | Home Office

And further news on human trafficking. The Home Office has announced that training will be given to social workers, youth workers, GPs and midwives to identify and help the victims of human trafficking.

Read more here:
More training to identify and support victims of human trafficking | Home Office

Young Offenders Failed By Care System Says New Report

Photograph by Richard Masoner/Cycledelicious

An new report by HM Inspectorate of Probation "Looked After Children: An inspection of the work of Youth Offending Teams with children and young people who are looked after and placed away from home" reveals that children in care in England and Wales who've been in trouble with the law are being failed by youth offending teams.

The Inspectorate of Probation raised concerns about children placed far from home, and some youth offending team staff who thought little about the emotional impact of being in care.

The report looked at 60 children, from about 3,000 supervised by the teams. It found about a third of children were placed more than 100 miles away from home, and nearly two-thirds were placed 50 miles away.


Basic checks were not made when placing these "vulnerable and potentially dangerous" children into homes, the report said, adding that examples had been found of sex attackers being placed with abuse victims.

Youth offending teams and and other agencies did not "always work effectively together in the best interests of the children", and poor planning and assessment meant insufficient protection for two-thirds of the children.


You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here.

New Survey Suggests Adult Social Care Is Suffering Under Cuts

Care for vulnerable older people has been suffering - both in quality and quantity - because of funding cuts, a survey of 200 social workers suggests.


In the survey by Age UK and the College of Social Work, more than 85% of respondents said they had seen the impact of cuts in the past year.

Of those, 95% said the cuts in England presented "a risk to the dignity of their older clients".

The Department for Health says the care of older people is a priority. Councils across the country have been facing a funding squeeze under the coalition's spending cuts.

Since 2004, social care funding has stagnated, and then decreased, Age UK said. This is despite an increase of more than 250,000 people aged 85 or over, the group most likely to require social care.

The charity said the funding given this year was half a billion pounds less than when the coalition came to power in 2010.

You can read more on this story on the BBC News website here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20566307

Prison mental health team stretched by 'serious' increase in demand - 9/28/2012 - Community Care

Photograph by Mikecogh

In more news on mental health, prisons watchdog warns of "serious and sharply increasing" problem of prisoners presenting with mental health and personality disorders.

An annual report to ministers by the independent monitoring board at HMP Pentonville revealed mental health teams at the prison received 24 referrals a week in 2011/12, up from 18 referrals a week last year. Incidents of self harm had also “increased very significantly” over the last year.


The watchdog said the reasons behind the spike in mental health demand at the prison “were not fully understood”. But it warned of the need for extra resources to bolster the mental health support on offer.

The full article is available to read here in Community Care:
Prison mental health team stretched by 'serious' increase in demand - 9/28/2012 - Community Care

Social Workers At 'Rock Bottom' Over Issue Of Race & Adoption

A report in today's The Guardian newspaper says that social worker's morale is at 'rock bottom' by cuts, targets and ministers making the issue of race and adoption a "political football", according to the biggest professional association.

Nushra Mansuri, of the British Association of Social Workers, is expected to criticise the education secretary Michael Gove, who accused social workers of condemning black and Asian children to a life in care rather than see them adopted by white couples.

"Leftwing prescriptions are denying children the love they need," Gove said in February. "This misguided nonsense punishes those who most need our help." The coalition later amended practice guidelines to speed up the adoption process and emphasise the determination of ministers to see more trans-racial adoptions.

"We are angry being misrepresented in this way," said Mansuri, who speaks for 14,000 social workers. "It is easy to talk about children in care who need to be with loving families and we are concerned about that. But we also know that only a minority can be adopted."

Mansuri, who will address the Lords select committee on adoption legislation led by Lady Butler-Sloss, said ministers increased their popularity by highlighting difficulties in adoption but did not take responsibility: "They set the policies and release the resources. What Gove said is an example of adoption as a political football, of the misrepresentation and distortion that gets people's backs up."

You can read the full story in The Guardian here.

International Crackdown On Human Trafficking

Immigration Minister Mark Harper has joined with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to call on international partners to redouble efforts against human trafficking. He outlined work the government is undertaking to tackle this crime, both in the UK and overseas. This includes:

• work with embassies and high commissions of key source countries
• collaboration between the Metropolitan Police, the Romanian National Police and the Romanian Embassy to share intelligence
• work by Border Force officials to identify victims
• victim care under a contract run by the Salvation Army

Mark Harper said: 'Human trafficking is an atrocious crime that requires a strong and robust approach, both from within the UK and internationally.


'The government will continue to identify what further we can do to stop people from becoming victims in the first place and, if they do, how we can best support them to recover and recuperate from their terrible ordeal.

'Our aim is to build on our collective efforts with international partners so far to continue to support victims and to identify and punish perpetrators.'

The top five countries for trafficking, based on potential victims referred through the UK's victim care system, are Nigeria, Vietnam, Romania, China and Slovakia. The top ten countries accounted for more than 64% of all referrals in 2011.









 

New Report: Listening To Troubled Families

Social workers have been urged to get "on the sofas" of England's most dysfunctional families to help them break a "grim" cycle of abuse. Government adviser Louise Casey said some households could get daily visits as part of a scheme to target 120,000 of the most troubled families.

In a report for ministers she details a picture of welfare dependency and sexual abuse going back generations. She said it was "wrong that we allow them to carry on living this way".

The government says 120,000 "troubled families" in England cost taxpayers £9bn every year - and want to turn their lives around by 2015. Ms Casey insisted the evidence showed these families could change - despite mixed results from initiatives she was involved in under the previous Labour government.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's not about left wing, it's not about right wing, it's about doing the right thing and the right thing is... to get our sleeves rolled up nationally, locally and in these people's lives.

You can read more about this story on the BBC News website here.

Louise Casey's full report is available to download here.

Unpaid carers being 'let down by failing social care'

The UK's "army of unpaid carers" is being "let down" by the failing social care system, campaigners warn.

Eight leading charities, including Age UK and Carers UK, have joined together to highlight the plight they face under the umbrella of Carers Week.

Feedback from 3,400 carers showed those providing the most intensive care often ended up with health problems themselves.

The government said there was now extra funding to allow carers' breaks. It is estimated that one in six carers either give up work or reduce their hours to look after elderly friends and relatives or younger adults with disabilities.

Read more on this story on the BBC News website here.

5 tips on how to start a conversation about mental health

New research commissioned by Time To Change, the mental health anti-stigma programme run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness reveals that talking in cliches does nothing to help sufferers to talk openly about their problems.

“Pull Yourself Together” tops the cliche chart but in this new video individuals who've experienced such awkward and demoralising conversations explain that mental health doesn’t have to be a scary or difficult subject.

Sexually Exploited Children Are At Further Risk In Care Says Barnardo's

Children who have been sexually exploited and trafficked are being put in further danger because of a dire lack of trained foster carers, children's charity Barnardo's has warned.

The most vulnerable children are left in residential care or secure units where they are at greater risk from groomers and traffickers, according to the charity.

Taking action after nine men were jailed for grooming young girls for sex in Rochdale, the Department of Education has announced new funding for a specialist foster care scheme in an attempt to tackle the problem, but Barnardo's argues that more must be done.

"Without a doubt the system is completely failing children in residential care. This idea that you can gather large numbers of vulnerable children together in one place acts as a magnet to abusers – you might as well put up a neon sign saying get your most vulnerable children here," said Anne-Marie Carrie, chief executive of Barnardo's.

You can read more on this story on The Guardian's website here.

Social workers 'may need powers of entry to stop abuse' - 6/6/2012 - Community Care

Action on Elder Abuse has launched a consultation on whether professionals need powers to enter homes and intervene where they suspect a vulnerable adult is being abused and access to them is blocked.

Existing powers in England may be inadequate for tackling cases where an adult with mental capacity, who does not have a mental disorder, is suspected of being abused in their own home by a family member who is preventing professionals from talking to the alleged victim, and coercing or unduly influencing the victim into staying quiet.

"Even if such situations are limited, the challenge for safeguarding remians as to how a situation can be assessed or judged if it is not possible to physically gain access to the alleged victim," said the consultation paper.

You can read the full news item on the Community Care website here:

Social workers 'may need powers of entry to stop abuse' - 6/6/2012 - Community Care