Daily roundup 8 July: Private fostering, criminal records, and Syria

More than 10,000 children in private fostering arrangements at risk of abuse and exploitation because members of the public don’t know they need to notify their local authority about the arrangement. A survey commissioned by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) found that 91 per cent of UK adults don't know what private fostering is. BAAF and charity Ecpat UK, which campaigns against child trafficking, said privately fostered children may be at risk if they are invisible to social services.


Doctors and surgeons with convictions for sex attacks and cruelty to children are still practicing medicine, it has emerged. The Express reports that figures released by the General Medical Council show that 1,068 doctors and surgeons have a criminal record, some for offences such as sex attacks, possessing child abuse images and violence.


A 19-year-old from Cardiff has been sentenced to three years in prison for plotting to travel to Syria to fight for Islamic State. The Guardian reports that Syed Choudhury worked in a fast-food restaurant to save money to travel abroad but was arrested before he could leave. 


The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC) is calling on the Scottish government to take urgent action to increase spending on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Just 0.45 per cent of total NHS Scotland expenditure was on CAMHS compared with England’s 0.7 per cent. The SCSC wants the minimum amount of spend to be one per cent. 


A children’s centre in Derbyshire will have its opening hours reduced from five to two days a week due to budget cuts. The Burton Mail reports that Derbyshire County Council has decided to cut the opening hours of 10 children’s centres across the county.


Wellingborough Council’s refusal of plans to turn a residential house into a children’s home has been overturned. The Northamptonshire Telegraph reports that the three-storey house will become a children’s home for children aged between 10 and 17.