Like a protective sibling, I am the first to both criticise and defend the care system. It failed and saved me in equal measure. In adult life, I returned to it as a social worker. I know its flaws and its...
“I knew I always felt different, but I didn’t know I was autistic.” For Rhiannon Lloyd-Williams, it would take until she was 35 to learn just why she felt different. Now research by Swansea...
Birmingham City Council’s failure to improve support services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) is creating a “deeply worrying” situation that could impact on the...
There has been a 300% increase in the number of victims of modern slavery referred for support in the past six years, and a huge increase in the number of men from Vietnam trafficked to work in illegal cannabis farms...
Every month 60,000 ill and disabled people have their needs assessed for benefits. Some are so worried about the process that they are using mobile phones to secretly record those interviews, critics say. But using that...
Local authorities will be expected to work together in ‘Regional Improvement Alliances’ under new plans announced by the government. Children’s minister Robert Goodwill announced that up to £20 million would be spent on...
GPs will be urged to make time to see lonely patients, who are 50% more likely to die prematurely than people with good social network.
Read the full article on this link to The Guardian
The number of people being supported by child sexual exploitation (CSE) services provided by Barnardo’s has risen by more than a third. There has been a 38 per cent increase in the number of children, young...
There can be few people in social work better prepared than Professor Alexis Jay to lead the mammoth Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, which started evidence hearings this week. Recounting the early days...
The Scottish government is to legislate to ensure care leavers are exempt from paying council tax. Plans to exempt Scottish care leavers from council tax should reduce debt problems, campaigners say. The landmark...
A generation of children will enter adulthood with mental health problems unless government takes urgent action to address the “shockingly poor” state of children’s mental health services...
The UK has been accused of providing “inadequate” protection of children’s rights after it fell dramatically in global rankings for child rights within a year, from 11th to 156th. Serious concerns have been raised about...
Reports of sexual assaults by children on other children are rising, according to police figures seen by BBC Panorama. But those reported cases are only the “tip of the iceberg”, according to one police...
