Womens Aid calls for reforms to family courts
Launching a report, Nineteen Child Homicides, Womens Aid reveals that 19 children were all intentionally killed by a parent who was also a known perpetrator of domestic abuse. The killings were made possible through unsafe child contact arrangements, formal and informal and over half of these child contact arrangements were ordered through the courts.
Key Statistics [...]
New Joint Inspections start with CSE
A joint inspection on Child Sexual Exploitation (cse) by Ofsted and other agencies is to be completed by the summer, the inspectorate has announced.
Under the new inspection regime, Ofsted, the Care Quality Commission, HMIC and HMIP will assess how well agencies work together to identify, support and protect vulnerable young people.
The new Joint Targeted Area [...]
Lord Chief Justice outlines reforms for judiciary
There are clear issues of concern around morale of judges, the lord chief justice has said in his annual report.
Lord Thomas identified that morale in the judiciary is a “very important issue”. However, he said fellow judges feel that the burdens of work imposed on them have increased with them having to handle “an ever-increasing [...]
BASW announces new chief executive
BASW has announced that Dr Ruth Allen will become its new chief executive, leading the growing organisation to be the strong, independent voice for social work and social workers.
Dr Ruth Allen, currently Director of Social Work at South West London and St Georges' Mental Health NHS Trust, will take over from current chief executive Bridget [...]
Fitness to Plead guidance is outdated and requires modernisation
Current rules for deciding whether a defendant is unfit to participate in a criminal trial are out of date, misunderstood and inconsistently applied, according to the Law Commission.
The test around fitness to plead needs revising in order to bring it into line with today’s psychiatric and psychological thinking, a report by the Law Commission says.
Professor [...]
Government to change legislation to prioritise adoption
Adoption should always be pursued where it is in the child’s best interests, the government has announced.
After the number of decisions for adoption made by courts and councils has fallen by around 50 per cent, the government is introducing urgent changes to legislation to try and increase the number of children being adopted.
Education Secretary Nicky [...]
