Daily roundup: Child support, missing children and outsourcing

The government has written to thousands of single parents informing them that they will be charged if they are unable to agree child maintenance agreements amicably. Under the new rules, paying parents will have a 20 per cent fee added to their payment, while receiving parents will have to pay four per cent in order to get the money, the BBC reports.

Coral Jones, the mother of murdered schoolgirl April Jones, and Kate McCann, mother of missing Madeleine McCann, have launched a new campaign aimed at signing up one million people to a missing children’s alert scheme. ITV reports that the pair have unveiled a digital billboard at King’s Cross station designed to issue alerts about missing children.

The president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services has said that outsourcing children’s services is a viable option if it is done voluntarily. Writing in the Guardian, Alan Wood said that many private, voluntary and community organisations are already involved with the provision of child protection and other social care services for children.

The NSPCC has welcomed international research that found paedophiles’ brains are “abnormally tuned” to find children’s faces more attractive. According to the Independent, Jon Brown, the charity’s lead on tackling child sex abuse, said the study by the University of Kiel, Germany is a welcome step in improving child protection practice.

The director of Peterborough’s children’s services has welcomed guilty verdicts against two men who sexually abused a number of teenage girls. Sue Westcott told the Peterborough Telegraph that she is very happy with the verdict, which reflects the efforts of the city’s social workers and police.

Children’s charity 4Children has unveiled a new look to its Foundation Years website. A new feature of the site, which was originally launched in 2011, is a regular podcast section, hosting discussions from early years experts.