Daily roundup 7 May: Child-on-parent violence, obesity, and pets

Children as young as seven have been investigated by police for allegedly attacking their parents. The Telegraph reports that figures provided by the Metropolitan Police show that 1,417 children under 18 were accused of violent acts against their mother or father in 2014, up by 61 per cent on 2012. A total of 253 were prosecuted.


Nearly one in four British children under the age of five are overweight or obese, research has found. The Guardian reports that a study, being presented at the European congress on obesity in Prague this week, found that the UK has the second-highest proportion of overweight children out of the 28 countries that were able to provide data, with 23.1 per cent of under-fives age classed as overweight or obese.


Children facing adversity are more likely to confide in their pet than brothers or sisters, according to research. The BBC reports that a 10-year study of 100 families in the UK by Matt Cassels at Cambridge University found that children were more likely to open up to a pet when they face situations such as illness or parents splitting up.


Increasing numbers of mentally ill children ending up in accident and emergency departments, a leaked letter has revealed. The Mirror reports more than 1,400 vulnerable kids are now being admitted to hospital as an emergency every month following cuts to local early intervention services.


A former director of children's services in Sandwell who resigned her post following an "inadequate" Ofsted rating, has left a senior post at Cumbria Council after less than a year. The North West Evening Mail reports that Helen Smith was appointed to head child protection services in Cumbria a month after she resigned as DCS in Sandwell.