The Home Office has launched a free online training package dealing with female genital mutilation (FGM), developed with Virtual College. It will give teachers, police, doctors, social workers and border staff the training they need to help them identify and assist girls who are at risk of FGM. The free online training provides professionals with an overview of FGM and their responsibilities in FGM cases, and how to support victims of it.
Parents are increasingly too afraid to let their children go to the park or outside to play by themselves, an investigation by ITV's Tonight programme has found. A survey of 2,000 parents across the UK conducted for the show found almost half think their children face greater risks than they did.
A school for children with disabilities is being investigated by police amid concerns over safeguarding, the BBC reports. Dame Hannah Rogers School in Ivybridge, Devon, is being probed by Devon and Cornwall Police, the force confirmed, and Ofsted has temporarily suspended services at the residential and short break unit. The school's trust said it followed a referral it made about the unit, which can accommodate about 40 students with physical and learning difficulties.
Young people from across Rubery are celebrating after winning a three-year battle to save the town’s youth centre. The youth centre came under threat of closure because Worcestershire County Council, which runs the service, needed to save an estimated £60 million by cutting services. Young campaigners showed their support for the centre with a number of high-profile demonstrations and activities including a sit-in protest, reports the Bromsgrove Standard.
Wellingborough Council has deferred a debate on plans to convert a residential house into a children’s home run by G4S. Dozens of residents had attended a meeting of the planning committee to hear about the plans, but within minutes of the meeting starting, the committee chairman recommended the item be deferred until a later date, reports the Northants Telegraph. The application says up to five children in the care of the local authority aged between 10 and 17 would be present at the house at any given time if approval was given.
A 30-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect after a baby girl suffered serious injuries when she fell from a first-floor window. Witnesses said the girl dropped from the window in Rainham, Kent, and hit an elderly man walking below before landing on her front on the pavement. She suffered major injuries and is in a stable condition at a London hospital, the BBC reports.
