£35m research programme launched into young people's mental health
A new £35 million government-backed research programme into treatments for mental health problems among adolescents has been launched.
The research aims to give more support to teenagers experiencing poor mental health including disorders such as depression, anxiety, self-harm and eating disorders. Researchers will look at external tensions and genetics to ensure mental health problems are [...]
Domestic Abuse Bill needs greater focus on supporting child victims
Local authorities have urged more emphasis on supporting child victims of domestic abuse in the Domestic Abuse Bill.
As the Bill received its Second Reading in the House of Commons earlier this month, the Local Government Association said they would like to see more emphasis on how children can be supported when they have experienced [...]
Cafcass: 'We should not have a direct role in public law pre-proceedings work'
Cafcass has welcomed an initiative taken by the judiciary to review what changes need to be made to the Public Law Outline and Child Arrangements Programme.
The president of the family courts division Sir Andrew McFarlane set up a Public Law Working Group to address the operation of the child protection and family justice systems.
Measures launched to tackle county lines
A £20 million package of measures has been launched by the government to tackle county lines.
Home secretary Priti Patel has announced the measures to intensify law enforcement efforts to disrupt the county lines model where gangs distribute drugs through vulnerable adults and children.
Under the measures, the National County Lines Co-ordination Centre [...]
Online grooming offences rise by a third
The number of recorded online grooming sexual offences has risen by a third, the NSPCC has warned.
There were at least 4,373 offences of sexual communication with a child recorded in the year to April 2019 compared with 3,217 in the previous year, according to Freedom of Information requests to police forces in England and [...]
Shropshire makes progress for children needing to achieve permanance
Shropshire has made progress in improving services for children who need permanent arrangements for their care, Ofsted has found.
A focused visit, which looked at the local authority’s arrangements for achieving permanence, found that for almost all children who come into care, swift decisions are made about their permanent care plans.
The report found the [...]
