Children referred to children’s services display complex needs
Children and young people requiring support from children’s services are presenting with more complex and multiple needs, directors of children’s services have warned.
In its interim report into Safeguarding Pressures, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said that while complexity in cases has been increasing over the past two years, it has been more [...]
Covid regulations rule in favour of kinship care
The government has introduced an exemption to the new Covid regulations to allow a child, who cannot remain safely at home, to meet with relatives, such as grandparents or a family friend, who have put themselves forward to raise the child on a temporary or permanent basis.
Following a threat of legal action by the [...]
Number of children locked up through the ‘inherent jurisdiction’ has tripled
There are more than 1,300 children locked up in various institutions, with a growing number who are not living in places designed to hold children securely, the children’s commissioner for England has warned.
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has published a report shining a light on some of the most vulnerable children in the [...]
Ofsted: Child abuse could be going undetected
Ofsted has raised concerns that child abuse could be going undetected in its annual report published today.
Reiterating fears previously raised in the inspectorate’s second report looking at the effects of COVID-19 on education and social care, the chief inspector of Ofsted Amanda Spielman said that while that number of child protection referrals has risen [...]
England needs to learn from Scotland and ban smacking
Scotland has become the first country in the UK to ban smacking – and should be applauded for leading the way.
The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Act 2019 removes the outdated defence of “reasonable chastisement” from the physical assault of children, giving them the same legal protections everyone else already has.
Wales has also [...]
Children experiencing homeless slammed as ‘national scandal’
Over half of state school teachers have worked at a school with homeless children or children who have become homeless, the charity Shelter has revealed.
Most teachers have first-hand knowledge of the damage done by the housing emergency to education –– with it now commonplace to see children grappling with homelessness at school, an issue [...]
