Daily roundup: Absent fathers, child exploitation warning, and migration rules

A million children in the UK are growing up without a father in their lives, research has found. The BBC reports that a study by the Centre for Social Justice found that 3m children are growing up predominantly with their mothers and 1m do not have a “meaningful relationship” with their father that involves two or more contacts a year. The report found that some areas are virtual "men deserts", and warned that absence of fathers is linked to higher rates of youth crime, pregnancy and disadvantage.

Local authorities are failing to protect vulnerable children from sexual exploitation, a group of MPs has found. The Guardian reports that the Home Affairs Select Committee believe recent criminal cases have highlighted a "woeful lack of professional curiosity" from statutory agencies in different areas of the country. Education Secretary Michael Gove was also criticised for rejecting a recommendation made by the committee that teachers be given help to identify and support children who are at risk.

Thousands of families are being “torn apart” as a consequence of new migration rules, it has been claimed. The London Evening Standard reports that the All Party Parliamentary Group on Migration found that British citizens are being separated from partners and children from outside the European Union because of a new minimum earnings requirement that came into effect last July for Britons wishing to sponsor a non-EU spouse. Former children’s minister Sarah Teather, a member of the APPG, said: "During the course of the inquiry, we heard from many families in which British children are being made to grow up away from a parent, or where families had been forced to move overseas in order to be together. Whatever the objective of the policy, children shouldn't suffer as a result."

Numbers of care applications in May this year were down 1.8 per cent on 12 months ago, latest figures published by Cafcass have shown. In May 2013, Cafcass received a total of 965 applications, down on 983 in May 2012. However, the year-to-date figures for 2013/14 are still up on last year. Between April and May 2013, Cafcass received a total of 1,878 applications, eight per cent higher than the same period last year, when 1,739 applications were received.

Police were alerted to 2,866 suspected downloaders of child pornography in 2012 but only 192 of them were detained, according to data from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. Child abuse campaigners expressed alarm at the figures, warning that children were being “failed” by all the agencies. Ceop said in some of the cases to which it had alerted police, information about children in immediate danger was included, while 600 additional cases were passed on to social services departments after experts detected images of abuse on websites and in online chat rooms, said the Daily Telegraph.

And finally, childcare minister Elizabeth Truss has made more official visits to French nurseries than English ones since she was appointed last September, the Observer reported on Sunday. Data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Labour party, shows Truss has visited seven French establishments but just five English nurseries. Truss has already drawn derision for praising French nurseries for being "calm" and "structured", despite English nurseries achieving higher quality rankings in international comparisons.