Looked-after children need flexible mental health services
Mental health services need to be more flexible in order to support looked-after young people with mental health problems, an expert working group has said.
Formal services should be more flexible in who they will allow to support the young person, acknowledging that support can come from a range of services and places. Health, education and [...]
Charity highlights extent of parental alcohol abuse on children
The Children’s Society is calling on the government to urgently address the £2bn funding gap for local council children’s services after research shows almost 700,000 children are affected by parental alcohol abuse.
Figures from the charity also show that more than 1.6 million teenagers have a parent with depression or anxiety and 1.7 million teenagers are [...]
‘Worrying upward trend’ of children possessing and sharing sexual images
The number of children possessing and sharing sexual images of themselves and others has risen by a huge 131% since 2014-15.
Police chiefs have warned of the “worrying upward trend” with 6200 incidents reported this year.
Representatives from police, education, charities and local and national government are meeting at a conference in London to discuss how [...]
Munby calls for amalgamation of youth and family courts
A ‘problem-solving court’ that looks at the difficulties facing both children and families should be introduced, a senior judge has said.
President of the High Court's Family Division, Sir James Munby, told the Howard League for Penal Reform’s 2017 Parmoor lecture that a re-vamped family court with an enhanced jurisdiction could tackle the problems a family [...]
Increase in children on child protection plans revealed
The number of referrals, assessments, children on child protection plans and Section 47 enquiries have all risen in the last year, Department for Education statistics show.
The number of referrals in the year ending 31st March has increased by 4.0% this year, from 621,470 in 2016 to 646,120 in 2017, while the number of assessment [...]
Children in public law system more likely to offend
Young people involved in family court proceedings are three times more likely to get caught up in the criminal justice system, according to research.
A study by the Ministry of Justice has shown that young people who were in contact with the public law system aged 10–17 were 2.9 times more likely to have offended between [...]
