“Everyone pulled together to do what we needed to do”
Team manager in adult services Kelly Wareham explains how World Social Work Day in 2020 changed her team’s way of working overnight amid COVID
World Social Work Day in March 2020 at signified a monumental change for us at Essex County Council. Adult Social Care s were directed to work from home in response [...]
Scientific methods to be used to assess age of asylum seekers
New scientific methods for assessing the age of asylum seekers have been introduced by the government.
The reforms will bring the UK’s age checking policy in line with other countries. Scientific methods are used by most European countries, who primarily use X-ray scans, and sometimes CT scans and MRI imaging to view key [...]
Improvements made at Oakhill STC but centre remains fragile
Children being held at Oakhill Secure Training Centre are safer than they previously were in the last inspection of the establishment where it was graded inadequate, but fragility remains.
The monitoring visit carried out by Ofsted, Care Quality Commission and HMI Prisons found that the immediate serious and widespread concerns identified in the [...]
Domestic abuse victims given longer to report crimes
Victims of domestic abuse will be allowed more time to report incidents of common assault or battery against them under amendments added to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Currently, prosecutions must commence within six months of the offence but under the changes, this requirement will be moved to six months from [...]
Care system is ‘unfit for purpose’ says former children’s commissioner
The current care system is unfit for purpose and is handing over some vulnerable children to criminals and abusers rather than ensuring they are protected, the Commission on Young Lives has warned.
Vulnerable teenagers are moved away from their families and communities, are too frequently shipped from placement to placement and continue to [...]
Over 6,000 abuse allegations in children’s institutional settings
More than 6,000 allegations have been made against adults working in children’s institutional settings between 2018 and 2021, according to research by Article 39.
The children’s rights charity carried out a Freedom of Information request to local authorities in England which found that there had been 6,106 allegations against adults working in children’s [...]
