Ofsted finds steady progress in Somerset’s care leavers and disabled children’s services
Steady progress has been made in services for care leavers and disabled children in Somerset children’s services, an Ofsted inspection has found.
However, the fourth monitoring visit since the local authority was judged inadequate in February 2015, stated that practice is not yet reliably good in all teams. Senior leaders understand the need for greater consistency [...]
Quarter of girls age 14 are depressed
A quarter of girls are displaying depressive symptoms at 14, according to research.
Researchers from the UCL Institute of Education and the University of Liverpool analysed information on more than 10,000 children born in 2000-01 who are taking part in the Millennium Cohort Study. They found one in four girls and one in 10 boys are [...]
Recruitment and retention of social workers addressed at authority
The long-standing difficulties of recruitment and retention of sufficient staff and managers at Cumbria children’s services have been “vigorously addressed”, an inspection has found.
A monitoring visit to the authority in August found that an improved offer for new and existing staff, combined with upskilling staff and managers, has led to a gradual reduction in the reliance [...]
Social work campaign launched by BASW
BASW has launched a social work campaign calling for improved working conditions for social workers.
The ‘Respect for Social Work’ campaign was launched after the recent UK Social Workers: Working Conditions and Wellbeing study revealed that more than half of social workers questioned intend to leave social work within 15 months.
The study, by [...]
Quarter of children referred to CAMHS denied support
More than a quarter of children referred for mental health services were refused help or support, a report has warned.
The Education Policy Institute carried out Freedom of Information requests which revealed that 26.3% of children referred to specialist mental health services were not accepted for help in 2016-2017.
According to NHS statistics, around 147,000 young [...]
Better mental health support needed for care leavers
Barnardo’s is calling on the government to ensure that some of the £1.4bn promised to improve children’s mental health is used to support vulnerable care leavers.
The children’s charity has raised concerns about the unmet needs of care leavers with mental health problems in a report ‘Neglected Minds’.
The report highlights how two thirds of care leavers [...]
