Daily roundup 28 October: Unaccompanied asylum seekers, long-term fostering, and Syria

Britain should accommodate 3,000 unaccompanied child refugees, the leader of the Liberal Democrats has said. The Guardian reports Tim Farron made the comments while on a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos. Today he will urge David Cameron to commit Britain to taking in the country’s “fair share” of children who are on their own.


A new matching service for local authorities to list children for long-term fostering, called Placement Link, has been launched by social enterprise Link Maker. The organisation also runs Adoption Link, a UK-wide service providing details of children waiting to be adopted.


A 34-year-old woman from Bradford could face prison after appearing in court accused of trying to take two of her children to Syria. The Shropshire Star reports the woman is charged with two counts of abducting a child under the age of 16.


Seven men have been charged with child sexual exploitation offences as part of Operation Clover, an investigation by South Yorkshire Police, Rotherham Council and the Crown Prosecution Service. The Sheffield Star reports that the offences are alleged to have taken place in Rotherham between January and October 2003.


A court specialising in tackling drug and alcohol issues in families whose children are facing care proceedings has been launched in Coventry. The Coventry Observer reports that the move is the latest attempt to improve child protection in Coventry since the death of schoolboy Daniel Pelka and an “inadequate” Ofsted rating for the council’s children’s services department.


More than 300 children have been caught shoplifting around Dundee in less than two years, figures have revealed. The Dundee Evening Telegraph reports 315 children under the age of 18 have been detected by police for a total of 202 separate theft crimes from shops since January last year.


James Kelly, chair of The Foyer Federation is to step down from his position after serving five years at the helm of the organisation. The role will taken up by Andrew Croft, the current chief executive of social enterprise CAN, in December.