Daily Roundup 11 October: Care applications, childhood obesity and sibling care

Latest figures from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service show that the number of care applications it received last month fell by 10 per cent compared to the year before. In September 2017, there were 1,109 care applications, compared to 1,235 in September 2016.


Childhood obesity is putting millions of children worldwide at risk of poor health and an early death, academic analysis has concluded. The Guardian reports that data from Imperial College London, published in the Lancet, has shown that in 1975 there were 11 million obese children, but by 2016 this had grown to 124 million. Researchers said childhood obesity raises the risk of developing serious health conditions as adults.


There needs to be more care places to enable siblings to live together, a report has said. The Action for Children report calls for a shake up of the care system in response to children in care saying they don't want to be separated from brothers or sisters. It also found that there is a lack of stable relationships with social workers, reports The Herald Scotland.


Children who are not walking by the age of one and a half should be referred to specialist services to see whether they have cerebral palsy, health officials have suggested. The Birmingham Mail reports that young people who are not sitting by eight months also need to be referred to a local child development service, according to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.


Not enough children are being taken to their GP to get the flu vaccine, research has found. The Huffington Post reports that Public Health England's recent figures have shown that 62 per cent of children aged between two and four years old were not vaccinated last winter.


Children's menus at some of the UK's leading restaurant and pub chains are still dominated by super-sized calorific puddings and unlimited refills of unhealthy sugary drinks, a health campaign group has warned. The Guardian reports that the Soil Association's Out to Lunch report has found children's desserts containing more than 400 per cent of a child's daily sugar allowance.