Perinatal mental health support needs urgent improvement
New parents experiencing mental health problems risk being overlooked, a coalition of organisations has warned, as it urges government to improve access to perinatal mental health support.
The “rapid deterioration of universal health visiting services” has been blamed for new parents experiencing mental health problems being unable to access support when they need it.
“Health visitors [...]
Lack of legal advice for kinship carers has devastating consequences on kinship families
Prospective kinship carers do not have access to the legal advice and representation they need, which can have devastating consequences not only for them but the children they care for, The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care has warned.
A report by the APPG found that almost 4 in 10 kinship carers had not received [...]
Father paid £1,100 following procedural failings which excluded him from child protection process
Gloucestershire Council has paid a man £1,100 after “procedural failings” resulted in him being unfairly excluded from the child protection process regarding his son.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the Council’s judgement about the level of risk Mr F presented to his child was based on procedural failings.
Mr F bought the complaint [...]
Revised sentencing guidelines for sexual offences against children
Revised sentencing guidelines that clarify how courts in England and Wales should sentence offenders convicted of arranging or facilitating sexual offences against a child have been announced and will come into effect at the end of the month.
Under the revised guidelines announced by The Sentencing Council, judges and magistrates will consider the intended sexual [...]
£7M funding for school mental health leads
Funding of £7 million has been announced by the Department for Education for schools and colleges to train a senior mental health lead.
Senior Mental Health Leads were announced in the government’s green paper on children and young people’s mental health. They will play an important role in helping schools and colleges embed a [...]
10% rise in EHC plans issued
There has been a 10% rise in the number of Education and Health Care Plans issued to children and young people in the last year according to Department for Education statistics.
There were 473,255 EHC plans at January 2022, up from 430,697 in 2021, continuing the upward trend in the issuing of EHC plans since [...]
