School nurses forced into child protection work
High thresholds for children’s services means school nurses are increasingly taking on child protection work, children’s commissioner report finds
School nurses are being forced to undertake child protection work because local authority thresholds are so high they cannot refer on to children’s services.
A survey carried out for the children’s commissioner found that when school nurses [...]
‘Don’t rule out foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in young children – it might be expressed later’
Better recognition of FASD by health and social care professionals will help give affected young people better chances in life, writes Joanna Buckard.
By Joanna Buckard, specialist trainer and health and social care lecturer
Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is a lifelong, largely invisible disability. It’s caused by prenatal alcohol exposure and is a well-known preventable cause [...]
Almost 20,000 children reported suicidal feelings to ChildLine
Number of children reporting suicidal feelings doubles in five years
ChildLine received calls once every 30 minutes from children having suicidal thoughts, the charity has revealed.
The helpline received 19,481 contacts from young people who were struggling with suicidal thoughts of ending their own lives - more than double the number five years ago. On average, [...]
Mother accuses social worker of trying to ‘drive her to insanity’
Social worker recorded and verbally abused by a mother during care proceedings
A social worker has been accused of waging “a vindictive campaign” against a mother during care proceedings in a bid to remove her children from her.
In a Family Court Judgement heard by Judge Hudson, the mother in the case accused the [...]
Six reasons to rethink moves to strip councils of children’s services
The government’s thrust towards trusts could do more harm than good to efforts to improve struggling services, argues Ray Jones
Austerity makes it hard to do good social work. So does constant change and churn in services. David Cameron’s government imposed both. As the summer parliamentary break comes to an end, the question is – will [...]
NSPCC: Children should not face abuser in court
FOI request finds video links are not available in one third of police force areas meaning children are forced to potentially face abuser in court
The NSPCC has renewed its call for children to be able to give their evidence from a location away from court.
The children’s charity has found that while many police force [...]
