Family Rights Group Press Release: challenges facing kinship children & their carers

Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive of Family Rights Group, has said: ā€œThe two studies released today, combine to provide authoritative new data on the challenges facing kinship children and their carers. The number of children living in kinship care are increasing, and these children are overwhelmingly affected by poverty. ā€œBy safely keeping the vast majority of … Continue reading Family Rights Group Press Release: challenges facing kinship children & their carers

ADCS has updated its website

ADCS has updated it's websiteĀ withĀ lots of useful resource links. See links to ADCS website and some pages of particular interest to IROs below. Go to source:Ā Home page And there's lots more including: Independent Reviewing Officers (IRO)Ā  Ā  The ADCS policy committee with lead responsibility for independent reviewing officers is theĀ Health, Care and Additional Needs Policy … Continue reading ADCS has updated its website

Couple Cleared Of Child Abuse Campaign For Change In The Law

Another great blog Natasha Phillips, editor atĀ Researching Reform.Ā  There have been a number of cases ofĀ innocent parents losing their children to the care and adoption system. As a result a number ofĀ campaigners are trying to change the law. Extract AsĀ Michael Turner QC notes, cases where parents have been wrongly accused of harming their children are … Continue reading Couple Cleared Of Child Abuse Campaign For Change In The Law

Parents’ wish to treat child’s cancer with Chinese medicine overruled by Family Court

This is a reblog from the ‘UK Human Rights Blog’ site. The blog’s editorial team is
General Editor: Adam Wagner
Commissioning Editor: Jim Duffy
Editorial team: Rosalind English, Angus McCullough QC, David Hart QC, Martin Downs.

It raises interesting issues re ‘best interests’ decisions. Worth a read.

enstar's avatarUK Human Rights Blog

71bl6-vngql-_sl1500_JM (a child), Re[2015] EWHC 2832 (Fam),Ā 7 October 2015 – read judgment

Mostyn J, ruling in the Family Division that a child should receive surgical treatment for bone cancer against the wishes of his parents, has referred to Ian McEwan’s ā€œexcellentā€ novel The Children ActĀ (Jonathan Cape 2014), which is about a 17 year old Jehovah’s Witness refusing a blood transfusion. The judge noted however that the book was in fact ā€œincorrectly titledā€:

a question of whether a medical procedure should be forced on a 16 or 17 year old should be sought solely under the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction, and not under the Children Act.

This case on the other hand concerned a ten year old child, J. The NHS Trust sought permission to perform urgent surgery of a serious nature on his right jawbone, where he hasĀ a very rare aggressive cancer. Its medical name is a craniofacial…

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Child & Adult Safeguarding: challenges of inter-professional working & communication

RecommendĀ viewing Youtube of various keynote addresses held as part of theĀ AnnualĀ Safeguarding Conference providedĀ byĀ Bucks New UniversityĀ in June 2015. The presentations explore the challenges of inter-professional working and communication in safeguarding practiceĀ acrossĀ both adults and children's safeguarding and includes a presentation by Sharon Shoesmith. Website/source: Bucks New UniversityĀ Twitter:Ā @bucksnewuni Other relevant publications Sharon Shoesmith (2015)Ā Shoesmith: culture of blame has … Continue reading Child & Adult Safeguarding: challenges of inter-professional working & communication

Educational outcomes of children in foster care

New research finds limited evidence that being in foster care is to blame for the poor educational outcomes of children Findings fromĀ researchĀ  A literature reviewĀ undertaken collaboratively by researchers in theĀ School for Policy StudiesĀ andĀ Graduate School of EducationĀ University of Bristol and the Rees Centre for Research in Fostering and Education andĀ Education Department, University of Oxford has just … Continue reading Educational outcomes of children in foster care

Do You Know? training

Courtesy of: Bracknell Forest – SE Region Do you know? training I am an IRO manager in Bracknell Forest in Berkshire. In February half term I attended a ā€˜Do you know’ training session led by young people in who are care experienced. The IROs in the team had all done the training and I wanted … Continue reading Do You Know? training

Recommended viewing: Trilogy of short films by looked after young people and care leavers

Looked after young people and care leavers with Cambridgeshire in partnership with CLAHRC (Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care with Cambridge university) and Cambridgeshire Picture House have created three animation films that are being used for work with professionals and other looked after young people. The animation films depict the emotional feelings and views of young people regarding their experience of the care system.

Life story work

Research conducted jointly between the UK children’s charity Coram and the University of Bristol Ā shows that the quality of children's life story books varies considerably. The research has helped to address an absence in the academic literature of adopters’ perspectives on their children’s life storybooks. Forty adopters from England and Wales participated in either focus … Continue reading Life story work

Abusing or simply not using section 20 of the Children Act 1989

Recommended reading Consider using this article as an aid to discussion about the appropriate use ofĀ section 20 arrangements. Hannah GomersallĀ examines the recent case law around section 20 of the Children Act 1989 and two concerning trends: s 20 being abused or, worryingly, not used at all. Link:Ā Abusing or simply not using section 20 of the … Continue reading Abusing or simply not using section 20 of the Children Act 1989