Government to strengthen Special Guardianship Orders
Assessment process to be amended immediately following review of SGOs
The government has pledged to strengthen Special Guardianship Order assessments in England after a review of their effectiveness found that children are being placed in potentially risky placements.
Following the review which unearthed major problems with the system, the government has pledged to:-
Strengthen the assessment process, to [...]Poorly performing children’s services face takeover
Prime minister unveils radical reforms to improve performance of children’s services
Local authority children’s services that persistently perform poorly will be taken over immediately, under government reforms unveiled by David Cameron.
The prime minister announced a number of measures and stated that ‘failing’ children’s services will be given six months to improve or face being taken over [...]
Law on special guardianship assessments to be reformed immediately
Government takes action to make assessments "more robust and consistent" after review says too many are "rushed and poor quality"
The government will immediately amend regulations and statutory guidance for local authority court reports on special guardianship orders after a review identified major problems with the assessment process.
In a consultation response published today, the Department for Education [...]
Record care applications for November, figures reveal
There was a 15% increase in care applications compared to the same period last year, figures showed
The number of care applications for the month of November has hit record levels this year.
Statistics published today by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) showed there were 1,020 care applications received in November, the [...]
Why Independent Social Workers could be the answer to pressures on local authorities following the Spending Review
Mark Willis, director of Independent Social Work specialists WillisPalmer, on why it's a good time to go independent
It is an exciting time to become an Independent Social Worker, says Mark Willis, director of leading provider of ISWs in the country, WillisPalmer.
Not only are local authorities under huge pressure to make cuts to [...]
Three-quarters of children in kinship care living in deprived household, study reveals
A study of census data by the University of Bristol estimated that more than 150,000 children lived in kinship care in 2011.
Children in kinship care are likely to live in poverty and deprivation, research has revealed.
A briefing paper, published today, analysed 2011 census data and estimated that 152,910 children – 1.4% of the 11.3 million [...]
