Daily roundup: Family courts, youth unemployment, and foster care
Laura McCardle
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Senior judge raises concerns on family court transparency; youth jobless total falls by 29,000; and the Welsh Assembly backs "staying put" right for fostered children, all in the news today.
The country’s most senior family judge has expressed his concern at the lack of family court judgments being transcribed and published. The Telegraph reports that Sir James Munby, president of the family division, wants children separated from their parents in secret family court judgments to have access to information about the court’s decisions when they grow up.
The number of young people unemployed has dropped to its lowest rate since 2011, latest ONS figures show. The data for the three months up until January showed there are 912,000 16- to 24-year-olds out of work, a fall of 29,000 on the previous quarter. Overall, there are 2.33 million unemployed people in the UK, a drop of 63,000 over the three month period.
The Welsh Assembly has voted to give young people in foster care in Wales the right to stay in their placements beyond the age of 18, putting them on the same footing as counterparts in England and Scotland. The vote means that councils will need to fund fostered children in Wales to “stay put” in a placement if they want to. However, the Fostering Network has warned that councils need extra resources to deliver the policy.
Stronger action must be taken to protect children from online bullying and pornography, members of the culture, media and sport select committee have said. The BBC reports that the MPs called for an increase in prosecutions of legal adult pornography sites that do not take adequate steps to prevent children accessing them.
Childcare professionals working across the world will be able to access a range of resources and examples of best practice developed by the National Day Nurseries Association through a new online resource. The organisation has launched a new international website as part of its vision to create a global online early years community.