Children’s minister Edward Timpson has been handed responsibility for improving children’s mental health services and the government’s flagship National Citizen Service scheme as part of an expanded ministerial brief, it has been announced. Timpson’s official title has been changed from Minister of State for Children and Families to Minister of State for Vulnerable Children and […]
Cafcass in talks with government to stem care application rises
Attempts are being made to halt rapid increases in the number of applications being made for children to be taken into care, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) has said. Cafcass chief executive Anthony Douglas said the organisation will have to continue to “sharpen our working practices and innovate to stand […]
Independent visitors for children in care in England
Barnardo’s and the National Independent Visitor Development Project have published a report on independent support for children in care in England. Findings from Freedom of Information responses from 149 local authorities include: 3.2% of the total looked after children population in England are currently matched with an independent visitor (IV) over 1000 children are on […]
Do you think Fosterline is an award winning helpline?
Do you think that Fosterline deserves to be nominated for the Helpline of the Year Award 2016? We are proud of the service we provide and during the past year alone, Fosterline has provided information, advice and support to over 68,500 enquiries (from current and prospective foster carers) via our helpline and interactive website. Over […]
Teenage girls: Mental well-being ‘worsening’
The mental well-being of teenage girls in England has worsened in recent years, says research for the Department for Education. Researchers highlighted the growing pressure of social media and the near-constant use of mobile phones. The study compared the experiences and attitudes of 14-year-olds in 2014 with those in 2005 and found an increase in […]
Future of Social Care Inspection
Ofsted is seeking views on proposed changes across Ofsted’s inspections of children’s social care. The consultation has four parts: principles for children’s social care inspections a new approach to inspections of local authority children’s services from 2018 a new common inspection framework for social care establishments, agencies, boarding schools and residential special schools from April […]
Could you spot the signs of child sexual abuse?
To combat this problem the Department of Health and leading national charity The Children’s Society in partnership with NHS England have developed an engaging and interactive eLearning course. 1 in 20 children in the UK has been sexually abused. Many of these young people wanted to disclose their abuse at the time – but didn’t […]
Transition from Children’s to Adults’ Services
The National institute for Health and Care Excellence is consulting on a draft quality standard to cover all young people (aged up to 25) using children’s health and social care services who are due to make the transition to adults’ services. It will include young people: in local authority care with mental health problems with […]
Schools should be incentivised to take on children in care
An article in Children & Young People Now reports that Alan Cifton, chair of the National Association of Virtual School Heads has called for schools to be incentivised to encourage them to admit children in care. To read the article click here. What do you think? Share your views on our forum. Picture: Shutterstock […]
Children’s Charities Relaunch Call for Changes to the Care System
The Alliance for Children in Care and Care Leavers, a group of 24 organisations in the children’s sector including CoramBAAF, has relaunched its vision for children and young people in and leaving care ahead of the House of Lords debates on the Children and Social Care Bill. The Alliance is calling for a clearer framework on […]