Daily roundup: Foster care legal challenge, clinical trials on children, and teacher training standards

A teenage boy in Wales has launched a legal challenge in the Court of Appeal after he was placed in foster care despite wanting to live with his mother. The BBC reports that the 15-year-old boy was placed in long-term foster care by Carmarthenshire Council after his mother said she wanted to work abroad. The Court of Appeal heard that the mother had hoped that the placement could be temporary until she returned home. The boy, who wants to return to his mother’s care, claims his rights were ignored by the family judge who presided over his case.

A reluctance to carry out clinical trials on children are contributing to the UK’s high child mortality rate, it has been claimed. A report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health argues that declining numbers of doctors involved in research projects, and “a fragile funding base”, are also to blame for the fact that child mortality for under fives is 30 per cent higher in the UK than the western Europe average. Professor Neena Modi, vice-president for science and research at the RCPCH, said: “We need to work together to effect a sea change in the recognition of the importance of child health research for the entire population.”