20% rise in child cruelty offences
There has been a 22% rise in the number of child cruelty offences recorded by the police in England and Wales between 2019-2020 and 2020-2021.
The NSPCC has revealed that between January and September 2021 there was a 22% increase in child cruelty offences recorded by police and are urging the government to strengthen the [...]
Applications for children to be deprived of liberty rockets by 462%
The number of applications to deprive children of their liberty has soared by 462% in three years, according to research by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory.
Despite the numbers rising rapidly, of the 420 children referred for a place in a secure children’s home for welfare reasons, only 209 received a placement.
Lisa Harker, director of [...]
Care leavers to receive £1600 per month in pilot scheme
Care leavers in Wales are set to receive £1600 per month to assess the impact on their lives under a pilot scheme announced by the Welsh government.
Under the scheme, more than 500 young people leaving care across all local authorities will be offered the opportunity to participate in the scheme to assess whether the [...]
Vacancies at Bradford impacted on improvement at local authority where Star Hobson died
Social work vacancies at Bradford Council hindered the workforce’s abilities to adequately care for children and young people, a report commissioned shortly after the death of Star Hobson has found.
Star was just 16 months old when she was taken to hospital on 22 September 2020 after suffering a cardiac arrest and sadly died the [...]
CSA prosecutions and convictions are falling
Children are facing increasingly long and distressing court delays as child sexual abuse prosecutions and convictions are falling, the NSPCC has warned.
A Freedom of Information request by the charity found that prosecutions for child sexual abuse (CSA) in England and Wales have more than halved since 2016-17 while convictions have fallen by 45% over [...]
Mental ill health among young people still higher than pre pandemic
Rates of probable mental health disorders among children and young people remained higher in 2021 than they were before the pandemic, according to The Department for Education’s State of the Nation report.
While there were signs of recovery in personal wellbeing in 2021, evidence for a recovery in measures of mental ill-health was less clear-cut.
To [...]
