“A reform of children’s services after the death of torture victim Victoria Climbié has created a recipe for confusion, a government spending watchdog will say today.”
The Guardian, 29th October 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina (St Helens Borough Council) v Manchester Primary Care Trust and Another
Court of Appeal
“The decision whether the care needs of a woman who required constant and expensive care should be met by the health service or by social services was one for the primary care trust acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health. That decision was capable of challenge by judicial review, but the social services authority did not have the power to reach its own decision.”
The Times, 6th October 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21days from the date of publication.
“It was for the primary care trust acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and not for the local authority to decide whether the care needs of a woman with dissociative identity disorder were primarily for health care or for care which a social services authority should provide. The trust was required to define in its decision the services which the social services authority was required to provide to the woman, whose mental and psychological conditions required constant and expensive care. It was not satisfactory for the two parties to resolve the issue by costly litigation, since the money for the care and the litigation all came from the public purse.”
WLR Daily, 11th August 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“The father of two children killed by their mentally ill mother yesterday condemned as ‘scandalous whitewash’ an inquiry that stopped short of blaming any individual for the tragedy.”
The Guardian, 18th July 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Health professionals failed to assess the risk a mentally ill mother posed to her two young children, a report into their deaths has found.”
BBC News, 17th July 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Victoria Climbie’s social worker has accused officials at London’s Haringey Council of the UK’s ‘worst case of institutionalised scapegoating’.”
BBC News, 14th June 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“The Law Commission today holds out the prospect of the first comprehensive reform of social care law for more than half a century. Announcing a formal review of what it calls ‘a confusing patchwork of conflicting statutes’, the commission says it aims to recommend a more coherent structure – preferably in the form of a single act of parliament.”
The Guardian, 11th June 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A social worker responsible for the welfare of eight-year-old Victoria Climbie has won her appeal to continue working in her role.”
BBC News, 4th June 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Children in divorce and separation cases are being left at risk of abuse because of serious failings by social workers dealing with their cases, according to a watchdog.”
The Times, 28th May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Eight years after Victoria Climbié died, the lessons of that terrible case seem not to have been learned.”
The Independent, 25th May 2008
Source: www.independent.co.uk
“A judge has criticised social workers for not helping a young mother who killed her two-year-old daughter.”
BBC News, 12th May 2008
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
C v East Sussex County Council (Adoption)
Court of Appeal
“While Parliament had given social workers wide powers, which they must not abuse, they had to remember that the court was the ultimate arbiter of what was in the best interests of a child.”
The Times, 9th May 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“A teenage mother whose baby was unlawfully removed from her within hours of his birth without a court order is to have a four-month residential assessment of her parenting skills which could cost the local authority nearly £100,000.”
The Guardian, 6th March 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Regina (M) v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council
House of Lords
“Where a child had been provided with accommodation by a local authority’s housing department but had not come to the attention of its children’s services department, she was not entitled to further council support in her own right.”
The Times, 3rd March 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
Please note the Times Law Reports are only available free on Times Online for 21 days from the date of publication.
“A government-commissioned report will this week lift the lid on the scale of the abuse suffered by children who are taken into care to be protected from their families.”
The Guardian, 2nd March 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
R (M) v Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council [2008] UKHL 14; WLR (D) 64
“A child who had been provided with accommodation by the housing department of a local authority but had not been brought to the attention of their children’s services department had not been ‘looked after’ under s 22(1) of the Children Act 1989 and was accordingly not entitled, having reached 18, to support under the Act as a ‘former relevant child’.”
WLR Daily, 27th February 2008
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“In far too many cases social workers are putting themselves above the law. Doctors increasingly report that a child who is admitted to hospital has injuries that may be ‘nonaccidental’. This is translated by local authorities as proving guilt.”
The Times, 23rd February 2008
Source: www.timesonline.co.uk
“Nottingham city council today agreed to pay damages to a teenage mother after admitting it acted unlawfully by taking away her newborn baby.”
The Guardian, 18th February 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“A baby girl who was murdered by her father had been seen by 30 health care workers, yet none of them realised she was at risk, a report has found. Jessica Randall, who died when she was 54 days old, might still be alive if signs of abuse had been properly identified, according to the findings of an inquiry by Northamptonshire’s Local SafeGuarding Children Board.”
The Guardian, 14th February 2008
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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