Daily roundup: Foster children's rights, SEN reforms, and the cost of sending a child to school

Children are being denied a proper experience of childhood because foster carers are still not allowed to take day-to-day decisions for them, a Fostering Network report has claimed. The study found that 17 per cent of foster carers said they cannot decide if a child can have a haircut, 30 per cent cannot give permission for a child to stay over with a friend and 17 per cent cannot allow a child to go on a school trip. Robert Tapsfield, Fostering Network chief executive, said: “We hear far too many examples of children missing out on the essential experiences of childhood because their foster carers are not allowed to make basic decisions. One girl wanted to go on a school trip, but because it took 16 weeks for the local authority to give permission she couldn’t go. That is ridiculous and the system has to change.”

The government’s special educational needs (SEN) reforms will have limited impact because the staff needed to deliver them at a local level are being cut, it has been claimed. The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) said a quarter of local authorities are making cuts to services for deaf children. The charity is calling on government to create a national offer for deaf children that can be implemented by local authorities, to reduce the current “postcode lottery” of services. Brian Gale, director of policy and campaigns at NDCS, said parents of deaf children don’t believe the SEN reforms will make a difference. “We cannot risk highly vulnerable children going through a new system that will fail them from the start,” he said.  “These reforms don’t address the real problem facing families.”

Families are struggling with the rising cost of sending their children to school, a survey of parents has found. According to the teaching union NASUWT, more than half of 2,500 parents quizzed were expected to buy their child’s uniform from a particular supplier, pushing up costs. More than half of parents spent £100 or more on their eldest child’s uniform alone, and more than a fifth of parents reported having to pay for field trips that are compulsory elements of examination courses. Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said families who have been hit by the recession are facing an “unacceptable tax on their children’s learning”. “It is clear from this survey that for many children access to critical educational opportunities, which are key entitlements, are increasingly becoming based on parents’ ability to pay,” she said.

Benefits for the children of the unemployed could be limited under plans being considered by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-Smith. The BBC reports that child-related benefits for families may be capped at two children. Duncan-Smith said families on benefits are too often  “freed from” the decision of whether they can actually afford to have more children. In a speech today, he is expected to ask whether families should get “never-ending amounts of money” for every child they have.

Former children’s minister Tim Loughton has criticised Education Secretary Michael Gove for failing to introduce measures to help protect children appearing on television. The Sun reports that Loughton launched a bid to protect under-16s performing on shows such as Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor earlier this year, by making shows apply for licences to feature children and introduce stringent safeguards. “Frustratingly I failed to persuade Michael Gove to include improvements in legislation when I was at the education department but will now take this forward as a private member’s bill,” he said. Loughton has been backed by shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg who said there is an “urgent” need for change.

Unison has lodged a tribunal claim on behalf of Sure Start children’s centre workers in Hampshire. The union claims that charity Action for Children dismissed 130 Sure Start employees prematurely, by not complying with a statutory 90-day consultation period. Unison regional organiser Peter Terry said: “Even though they are a charity, Action for Children is still required to comply with the law. The law states that employers must consult for no less than 90 days in these cases. As a result of Action for Children’s failure to consult for the required 90 days more than 100 hard-working and loyal Hampshire Sure Start workers have been dismissed much sooner than they should have been. This has left many of them thousands of pounds out of pocket.”