Daily roundup 27 October: Kidscape, neglect, and stop and search

Anti-bullying charity Kidscape has announced that Lauren Seager-Smith will take over as the organisation's new chief executive in January 2017. Seager-Smith, who has been leading the work of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, based at the National Children's Bureau, replaces Claude Knights who announced her retirement in May, having led the organisation for 15 years.


Two professional social workers left their son who has learning difficulties "home alone" as they took a trip to London, have been sentenced to a 12 month community order and told to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work. The Telegraph reports that the couple while appearing at Exeter Magistrate's Court, the boy's mother, a senior social worker, and stepfather, a mental health professional, admitted neglecting the 10-year-old boy who had the abilities of a seven-year-old.


Police officers must accept that they are guilty of some sort of bias in order to stamp out discrimination in the use of stop and search powers. The Guardian reports that The College of Policing has launched new guidelines for police on stop and search and also warns that an officer should consider if a bias is affecting his or her decision every time before making a stop. If they think prejudice is playing a part, they should not use the power.


A man has been told he faces jail for killing his three-year-old son by force-feeding him a mixture of bread and cereal. Sky News reports that the toddler "drowned in his food" after being made to lie across his father's lap as the porridge-like mixture was poured into his mouth. The 32-year-old father from northwest London was found guilty of manslaughter and cruelty to a child following a trial at the Old Bailey.


An MP has called for an inquiry into why child sex abuse has been going on in Telford for "over 20 years". The BBC reports that Conservative MP Lucy Allan told a Westminster Hall debate girls were being groomed and traded "like commodities" for sex and many past victims had not had justice. She pointed to figures showing Telford and Wrekin had the highest recorded rate of child sex offences in the country.


A judge has banned the media from identifying four men at the centre of a civil case about child sexual exploitation in Rotherham after he was told that naming them could lead to the "jigsaw identification" of the teenage girl involved. The Press Gazette reports the four men had been subject to interim injunctions imposed in the Family Division of the High Court banning them from contact with a girl because Rotherham Council believed she was being sexually exploited.