The government has issued advice for frontline professionals dealing with child protection cases and care orders where the child has links to a foreign country. The guidance includes a summary of the main international legislation, guidance on agencies and organisations that social workers can seek advice from, and links to other relevant guidance.
The government’s free schools programme is failing to address educational disadvantage and attainment gaps, a report commissioned by teaching union the NASUWT, has found. The report found that many free schools are not operating fair and inclusive admission policies and are failing to comply with their statutory obligations to equality.
Numbers of children diagnosed with foetal alcohol syndrome in Teesside have risen by more than 50 per cent. The Middlesbrough Gazette reports that 23 children were diagnosed with the disorder – which is caused by their mother drinking during pregnancy - at Middlesbrough’s James Cook University Hospital between April 2013 and April 2014. This compares to 15 cases over the same period in 2012/13 and 16 in 2011/12.
New figures show that three-quarters of parents want loan adverts to be banned from broadcasting TV and radio adverts before the 9pm watershed. The Children’s Society has published the figures as part of a campaign calling for restrictions on loan advertising.
A social worker has been found guilty of misconduct after posting about private family court proceedings on her Facebook profile. The Daily Mail reports that Siobhan Condon worked at Essex County Council when she published comments “bragging about the power she felt” at breaking up a family.
Reported cases involving missing children in Leeds have risen by 65 per cent in the past year. The Yorkshire Evening Post reports that there were 1,845 incidents relating to 551 children in 2013/14, compared to 1,117 incidents involving 456 in 2012/13.
