Daily roundup: safeguarding procedures, child medicines, and children's happiness

Professionals working with children risk failing to identify abuse and neglect if they rely on children talking to them about it, according to new research. Children and young people value talking to professionals, but may not speak directly about abuse, meaning professionals need to understand the signs of physical and emotional abuse and neglect which children may display.? The research conducted for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England by the University of East Anglia (UEA) with Anglia Ruskin University, looked at young people’s recognition of abuse and neglect, and of getting help from family, friends and professionals.

Campaigners are calling for food colourings linked to hyperactivity to be banned from everyday children's medicines. There are 52 products, including teething gels and painkillers designed for babies, which contain a cocktail of E numbers to give them their bright colours. Action on Additives coordinator Lizzie Vann-Thrasher told the Daily Telegraph: "We are concerned that some of our most trusted children's medicines contain unnecessary colourings that have been linked to hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders.”