Child protection investigations – no further action necessary? – Transparency Project

Posted July 23rd, 2021 in care orders, children, families, local government, news, social services by sally

‘Are hundreds of thousands of families being put through unnecessary investigations by unchecked social workers? That’s the suggestion made by a succession of recent news stories, some prompted by the first report of the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. Services are ‘too focused on investigating families’, went the BBC; ‘innocent families have been traumatised by groundless investigations’, said The Times as part of a series on the issue, elsewhere reporting that ‘councils … launch abuse investigations based on a single unexplained mark’, and asserting ‘social workers too quick to wade in’, quoting the Review’s chair, Josh Macalister, as saying that social workers are ‘investigating first when [they] should be helping’.’

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Transparency Project, 23rd July 2021

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

Social Worker awarded damages in Strasbourg for unfair accusations of professional misconduct – UK Human Rights Blog

‘The United Kingdom has been ordered by the European Court of Human Rights to pay damages and legal costs to a social worker who was unfairly accused of professional misconduct by a Family Court judge.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 7th July 2021

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Integrated care boards to replace clinical commissioning groups as Government unveils Health and Care Bill – Local Government Lawyer

Posted July 8th, 2021 in bills, health, hospitals, local government, mental health, news, social services by sally

‘England is to be divided into integrated care boards and partnerships responsible for bringing together local NHS and local government, such as social care, mental health and public health advice.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 8th July 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

European Court of Human Rights orders UK Government to pay €84k to social worker criticised by Family Court judge – Local Government Lawyer

‘The European Court of Human Rights has ordered the Government to pay €24,000 for non-pecuniary damage and €60,000 in legal costs to a social worker who was accused of professional misconduct by a Family Court judge in the course of a fact-finding hearing.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 23rd June 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

High Court rejects ‘failure to remove’ abuse claim – UK Human Rights Blog

‘In a significant adverse judgment for child abuse claimants, DFX v Coventry City Council [2021] EWHC 1382 (QB), Mrs Justice Lambert rejected a claim brought by a number of claimants who alleged that the defendant council’s social services negligently delayed in instigating care proceedings and that had they been removed from the family home earlier they would have avoided serial abuse at the hands of their parents.’

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UK Human Rights Blog, 14th June 2021

Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com

Judge dismisses application by birth parents for boy in interim care to be circumcised before second birthday – Local Government Lawyer

‘A High Court judge has dismissed an application by a mother for a boy (P), who is aged 21 months and in interim care, to be circumcised in accordance with the custom of the Muslim faith before his second birthday.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 15th June 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Failure to remove claims and section 20 accommodation – Local Government Lawyer

‘A High Court Master has recently considered whether in ‘failure to remove’ cases where a child has been accommodated under section 20, the accommodation of the child gives rise to a duty of care by way of assumption of responsibility, even if other steps taken by the local authority do not do so. Paul Stagg analyses the ruling.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 11th June 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Newborn care report sparks judicial response – Law Society’s Gazette

‘Judges are to investigate the use of urgent hearings in proceedings involving babies, after a study found that 85% of mothers in cases involving newborns being taken into care were given less than seven days’ formal notice.’

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Law Society's Gazette, 4th June 2021

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

‘Overwhelming and emotionally traumatic’: 1 in 6 new mothers only given a day’s notice of care proceedings, research says – The Independent

‘One in six mothers involved in care proceedings over the last year were given just a day’s notice of a court hearing to decide whether their newborn child would be taken into care, according to research. The vast majority of such women in England and Wales receive less than one week’s notice, new analysis shows.’

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The Independent, 5th June 2021

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Postcode lottery for baby care orders – judge – BBC News

‘Care order applications are usually made when social workers decide a mother is unable to look after her child on her own. The baby will probably go into foster care and it may be adopted.’

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BBC News, 4th June 2021

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Disabled people can be taken to prostitutes by care workers, judge rules – Daily Telegraph

‘Council care workers can help disabled people meet prostitutes without breaking the law, a judge has confirmed in a landmark ruling. A judge in the Court of Protection – a specialist court which considers issues relating to people who are deemed to lack capacity to make certain decisions – ruled that carers who facilitate adults with learning disabilities to visit sex workers will not be committing a criminal offence.’

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Daily Telegraph, 29th April 2021

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Teenager who threw six-year-old from Tate Modern was not considered a risk – The Guardian

‘An autistic teenager who threw a six-year-old boy from the Tate Modern was not considered a risk to others at the time, despite previously assaulting police and a restaurant worker and hitting support staff with a brick, a report has found.’

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The Guardian, 27th April 2021

Source: www.theguardian.com

Unequal chances? Ethnic disproportionality in child welfare and family justice – Family Law

‘Many have experienced their own Black Lives Matter moment in the last 12 months, a sharp realisation of entrenched prejudices and inequalities that still exist in our society. In the family justice system that moment came last October when a black barrister, Alexandra Wilson, was mistaken for a defendant three times in one day. And yet, more generally there has been surprising little debate about the disproportionate numbers of families from some ethnic minorities in the family justice system and what might lie behind this.’

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Family Law, 19th March 2021

Source: www.familylaw.co.uk

‘Failure to remove’ claims – the decision in HXA v Surrey County Council – Local Government Lawyer

‘Paul Stagg analyses an important decision this month on “failure to remove” claims and also summarises the other case law to date, before looking at pending cases and the likely way forward to the higher courts.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 26th February 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Privatisation of children’s services is bad for children and bad for taxpayers – Transparency Project

Posted February 18th, 2021 in children, contracting out, news, social services by sally

‘When the Care Review was formally announced in January, one of the first actions of its chair, Josh MacAlister, was to ask the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the children’s social care ‘market’ in England. This was announced even before MacAlister takes up his post, which is not until March.’

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Transparency Project, 17th February 2021

Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk

Judge rules council and CCG failed lawfully to assess s.117 after care services for claimant – Local Government Lawyer

Posted February 18th, 2021 in autism, children, local government, mental health, news, social services by sally

‘A discharge care plan approach (DCPA) written by the London Borough of Islington and North Central London Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) was unlawful on nine points, the High Court has found.’

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Local Government Lawyer, 18th February 2021

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

UK’s FGM safeguarding policies undermining welfare, study warns – The Guardian

‘Safeguarding policies introduced to protect women and girls against female genital mutilation (FGM) are instead eroding trust and alienating African diaspora communities, a study has found.’

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The Guardian, 4th February 2021

Source: www.theguardian.com

Oxfordshire boy groomed by gangs ‘failed’ by authorities – BBC News

Posted January 21st, 2021 in children, drug trafficking, education, gangs, news, police, reports, social services, suicide by sally

‘A boy found dead in his bedroom was groomed into a world of drug trafficking and “failed” by the authorities, a serious case review said.’

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BBC News, 20th January 2021

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Lucy McHugh: Social workers caseload ‘too high’ before girl’s murder – BBC News

Posted December 7th, 2020 in local government, murder, news, rape, sexual grooming, sexual offences, social services by sally

‘Social workers’ caseloads were “too high” in the months before a 13-year-old girl was murdered by a man lodging in her home, a council boss has said.’

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BBC News, 6th December 2020

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

‘Bad parent’: children’s watchdog to accuse state of care failings in England – The Guardian

Posted November 24th, 2020 in care orders, children, news, social services, speeches by sally

‘The children’s commissioner for England will deliver a damning indictment of children’s social care in a speech on Tuesday and accuse the state of too often being a “bad parent”.’

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The Guardian, 24th November 2020

Source: www.theguardian.com