• About
    • Privacy Policy
  • GSW
  • Guide To Making A Subject Access Request
  • In Dad’s Shoes
    • An Overview
    • Invitation
    • Media
    • Photos
    • Press Release
    • Soft Launch
    • Speeches
    • Summary
  • Media Coverage
  • Parliamentary Debates
  • Voice of the Child Podcasts

Researching Reform

Researching Reform

Monthly Archives: February 2020

The Buzz

28 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, The Buzz

≈ 1 Comment

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Research: Not Just Collateral Damage – The Hidden Impact of Domestic Abuse on Children (Barnardo’s)
  • Report: Monitoring the Mental Health Act (Care Quality Commission)*
  • Complaints: New children and education decisions (Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman)

*For information about children in the report, press Control/ Command + F and enter the word child in the search bar.

Buzz

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Voice of the Child Podcast With DadsHouse – “The Government is a F****** Disgrace.”

27 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, Voice of the Child Podcast

≈ 3 Comments

In our fourth podcast, the Voice of the Child speaks with DadsHouse founder Billy McGranaghan on how austerity has hit single fathers and their children.

Offering support and father-focused services to dads who have experienced divorce or bereavement, Billy explains that food bank use among families is on the rise, in the wake of Lord Marmot’s damning review on austerity and poverty.

Billy also shares a controversial theory he holds about why mothers going through family courts may sometimes fabricate domestic abuse allegations.

Listen to the podcast to find out more, and to discover which section of society Billy believes is the UK’s “ghost demographic”.

Tell us what you think of the podcast on Twitter, using the hashtag #VOTC.

Screenshot 2020-02-27 at 15.28.57

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Landmark Domestic Violence Case Uses Sentence Review Power.

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Domestic Violence, Researching Reform

≈ 2 Comments

A sentence for controlling and coercive behaviour has been increased for the first time, after a scheme which was updated last year allowed sentences for domestic abuse to be reviewed.

Joshua Dalgarno had been regularly violent towards his girlfriend, which included him stabbing her in the leg with a pen knife, trying to pull a drip out of her arm while she was ill in hospital and smashing her head against a windscreen.

His girlfriend had been pregnant during some of the abuse she endured, but later lost the baby.

Dalgarno was initially given a 24-month community order at Taunton crown court in December, after being charged with controlling and coercive behaviour towards his former partner, taking a conveyance without authority and causing criminal damage.

This was not the first time the defendant had been in court. Dalgarno had several convictions dating as far back as 2009, which included four convictions for violence against previous partners.

He had also been arrested several times for domestic abuse incidents relating to his current victim.

After his second arrest for abuse towards the victim, he was released on  bail conditions, which stipulated that he could not contact his girlfriend. Dalgarno ignored the stipulation, stole her car, drove to her sister’s house and tried to break down the door.

Concerned by the light sentence Dalgarno was given, the solicitor general, Michael Ellis QC, brought the review of the case under the Unduly Lenient Scheme.

The scheme gives prosecutors, victims of crime, their family, and the public, the power to challenge sentences for offences included in the scheme.

Individuals can ask the Attorney General for a review of certain sentences they believe are too low.

Following on from the Attorney General’s submission to the court of appeal yesterday, Dalgarno was given a custodial sentence of 3 years’ imprisonment.

Responding to the increased sentence, Ellis said, “This is the first of its type and it’s particularly important to send a message that this type behaviour, which was graphic, which was prolonged, which was pernicious, must be met with appropriate criminal sanction.”

“It’s a matter of public policy that this type of appalling domestic abuse, including violence, should be met with a sentence that the general public would expect, namely one of imprisonment, and I’m pleased the court of appeal has increased the sentence accordingly,” he added.

Further reading:

  • Victims of Child Sexual Abuse, Stalking and Harassment Can Now Challenge Lenient Prison Sentences
  • Man branded ‘menace to women’ given increased prison sentence after jail term deemed too soft
  • Domestic abuser Joshua Dalgarno, of Somerset, jailed by Court of Appeal

 

unduly-lenient-sentencing-digital-collateral_govuk

 

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Buzz

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, The Buzz

≈ 2 Comments

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Event: Reforming the Child Protection System: Parents and Their Allies – Social Work Teaching Partnership of West Midlands (Watch the conference here)
  • Marmot Review 2020
  • Department for Education Press Release: New push to improve outcomes for vulnerable children

Buzz

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Ministers and Children’s Policy – Who’s Who in 2020 (Take Two)

24 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, Who's Who Cabinet Ministers

≈ 1 Comment

Welcome to another week.

Following on from our post on Feb. 18, which detailed Downing Street’s initial announcement on the reshuffling of ministers in government departments, we can now share a fuller list.

As it seems to be taking the government longer than usual to confirm all of the positions, the list below is still only partially complete, and for the sake of this post features only ministerial posts which engage in child welfare.

For a breakdown of all departments and which ministers head them, click here. 

Home Office:

  • Secretary of State for the Home Department – Priti Patel MP
  • Minister of State – James Brokenshire MP
  • Minister of State for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service – Kit Malthouse MP (jointly with the Ministry of Justice)
  • Minister of State (Minister for Countering Extremism) – Baroness Williams of Trafford
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Safeguarding and Vulnerability) – Victoria Atkins MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Immigration) – Kevin Foster MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Chris Philp MP (jointly with the Ministry of Justice)

Ministry Of Justice:

  • Lord Chancellor (paid), and Secretary of State for Justice* – Robert Buckland QC MP HM Advocate General for Scotland and MoJ spokesperson for the Lords – Lord Keen of Elie QC
  • Minister of State – Lucy Frazer QC MP
  • Minister of State – Kit Malthouse MP (jointly with the Home Office)
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Alex Chalk MP* (and Assistant Government Whip (paid))
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Chris Philp MP (jointly with the Home Office)

Department For Education:

  • Secretary of State for Education – Gavin Williamson CBE MP
  • Minister of State – Michelle Donelan MP
  • Minister of State (Minister for School Standards) – Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Gillian Keegan MP
  • Minister for Children and Families – Vicky Ford MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Baroness Berridge (jointly with the Department for International Trade (Minister for Women); and Baroness in Waiting (paid))

Department Of Health & Social Care:

  • Secretary of State for Health and Social Care – Matt Hancock MP
  • Minister of State (Minister for Health) – Edward Argar MP
  • Minister of State (Minister for Care) – Helen Whately MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care) – Jo Churchill MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health) – Nadine Dorries MP

Department For Work & Pensions:

  • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – Rt Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey MP
  • Minister of State (Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work) – Justin Tomlinson MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Employment)– Mims Davies MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Welfare Delivery) – Will Quince MP

Department For Digital, Culture, Media And Sport:

  • Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – Oliver Dowden CBE MP

Department For Housing, Communities And Local Government:

  • Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – Robert Jenrick MP
  • Minister of State – Simon Clarke MP
  • Minister of State (Minister for Housing) – Rt Hon Christopher Pincher MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Local Government and Homelessness) – Luke Hall MP

You can also access previous cabinets, to compare and contrast, or just satisfy curiosity, below:

Ministers in 2016

Ministers in 2017

Ministers in 2018

Ministers in 2019

Child Welfare in 2020 A Government Department Breakdown

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Interesting Things

21 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Interesting Things, Researching Reform

≈ 5 Comments

We’ve gathered up some interesting documents on child welfare, which have been published this week.

The House of Commons Library put out two briefings on February 18, which offer information on child protection laws and unregistered accommodation for looked after children, both current topics in the news.

An overview of child protection legislation in England

The briefing summarises the key pieces of legislation in child protection, what each one does and also includes statutory guidance for the sector.

A full review, which is 13 pages long, is also added in downloadable PDF format at the bottom of the page.

 

B1

 

Looked after children: out of area, unregulated and unregistered accommodation (England)

This briefing paper explains out of area placements for looked after children in England, and the developments around placements for looked after children in unregulated and unregistered accommodation.

The paper sets out the current position in relation to what local authorities can and can’t do when it comes to organising accommodation for children in care, and highlights the recent concerns over children being placed outside of their local area.

The document also offers information on a review of children’s residential care which took place in 2016. The two paragraphs in this section are an important read for anyone concerned about the government’s focus on profits rather than people inside the sector.

The paper also outlines the ongoing government consultation into unregulated care homes for children, which sets out proposals for change. This review is open until April 8, and wants to hear from children, young people and families with experience of care.

The proposals as set out, are:

  • Banning the use of independent and semi-independent placements for children under the age of 16.
  • Introducing a new requirement on local authorities to consult with local police forces when they place a child out of area in unregulated provision.
  • Amending legislation to define ‘care’ in order to provide clarity on the distinction between unregulated and unregistered provision.
  • Introducing new national standards for providers of unregulated provision. The consultation seeks views on how the standards should be introduced and enforced.
  • Legislate to increase Ofsted’s enforcement powers “so that robust action can be taken quickly where providers are found to be acting illegally.”

interesting Things

 

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Voice of the Child Podcast with Legal Action for Women

20 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, Voice of the Child Podcast

≈ 11 Comments

In our third podcast, the Voice of the Child speaks with Legal Action for Women’s Anne Neale and Tracey Norton, on emerging themes and patterns they are seeing in child welfare cases.

Assisting women who have experienced domestic violence, and lost their children to forced adoption, Anne and Tracey come across dangerous levels of malpractice in the divorce and child protection proceedings they assist on.

LAW says the trauma suffered by the children and mothers in these cases is never taken into account by judges or child welfare professionals.

In this interview, we discuss the phenomenon of children and mothers being unjustly separated in family law proceedings, and the growing movement around post adoption contact applications being made by birth families.

Many thanks to Anne and Tracey for coming on to the programme.

#VOTC

You can listen to the podcast here. 

Screenshot 2020-02-19 at 22.04.43

Further Reading

Do No Harm – a grandmother against forced adoption

Support Not Separation Blog

Legal Action for Women

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Buzz

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, The Buzz

≈ 1 Comment

The latest child welfare items that should be right on your radar:

  • Cyril Smith, the serial paedophile to whom the establishment turned a blind eye
  • Lord Steel facing expulsion from Liberal Democrats after criticism in child sex abuse inquiry report
  • New Zealanders would support criminalising not speaking up in child abuse cases – Simon Bridges

Buzz

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Ministers And Children’s Policy – Who’s Who In 2020

18 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Researching Reform, Who's Who Cabinet Ministers

≈ 5 Comments

As we experience yet another cabinet reshuffle, we’ve added a list of names for those positions which include elements of child welfare.

These appointments were announced on February 13, 2020, in a statement issued by Downing Street.

The official page which houses full details of ministers by department has not yet been updated, so it is possible that some changes may take place between now, and when the page is finalised.

Noteworthy developments include the removal of Kemi Badenoch as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education, to Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) in the Department for International Trade.

Badenoch’s stand-in, Michelle Donelan, who covered for Kemi while she was on maternity leave, remains at the Department for Education and has been promoted to a ministerial position.

Home Office:

  • Secretary of State for the Home Department – Priti Patel MP
  • Minister of State – James Brokenshire MP
  • Minister of State – Kit Malthouse MP (jointly with the Ministry of Justice)
  • Minister of State – Baroness Williams of Trafford
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Victoria Atkins MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Kevin Foster MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Chris Philp MP (jointly with the Ministry of Justice)

Ministry Of Justice:

  • Lord Chancellor (paid), and Secretary of State for Justice* – Robert Buckland QC MP
  • Minister of State – Lucy Frazer QC MP
  • Minister of State – Kit Malthouse MP (jointly with the Home Office)
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Alex Chalk MP* (and Assistant Government Whip (paid))
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Chris Philp MP (jointly with the Home Office)

Department For Education:

  • Secretary of State for Education – Gavin Williamson CBE MP
  • Minister of State – Michelle Donelan MP
  • Minister of State – Rt Hon Nick Gibb MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Gillian Keegan MP
  • Minister for Children and Families – Vicky Ford MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Baroness Berridge (jointly with the Department for International Trade (Minister for Women); and Baroness in Waiting (paid))

Department Of Health & Social Care:

  • Secretary of State for Health and Social Care – Matt Hancock MP
  • Minister of State – Edward Argar MP
  • Minister of State – Helen Whately MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Jo Churchill MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Nadine Dorries MP

Department For Work & Pensions:

  • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – Rt Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey MP
  • Minister of State – Justin Tomlinson MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Mims Davies MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Guy Opperman MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Will Quince MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Baroness Stedman-Scott OBE

Department For Digital, Culture, Media And Sport:

  • Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – Oliver Dowden CBE MP

Department For Housing, Communities And Local Government:

  • Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – Robert Jenrick MP
  • Minister of State – Simon Clarke MP
  • Minister of State – Rt Hon Christopher Pincher MP
  • Parliamentary Under Secretary of State – Luke Hall MP

For a full breakdown of departments and which ministers head them, when available, click here. 

You can also access previous cabinets, to compare and contrast, or just satisfy curiosity, below:

Ministers in 2016

Ministers in 2017

Ministers in 2018

Ministers in 2019

Child Welfare in 2020 A Government Department Breakdown

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Foster Care Adversely Affects Children – New Research

17 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by Natasha in Foster Care, Researching Reform

≈ 5 Comments

Foster care adversely affects children in both the short term and the long term, new research from Sweden confirms.

Written by Christian Munthe, a bioethics professor at Gothenburg University, and eight additional researchers, the paper also calls on social care organisations around the world to systematically collect data about the effects and side effects of out-of-home placements for children.

The paper pulls together a substantial amount of research from Europe (including England) and the United States, in order to try to take a long term view of foster care and its impact on children.

The conclusions the researchers come to in the paper are damning.

Overall, 28 publications about 18 interventions, including 5,357 children, were identified, but only three interventions were sufficiently evidence-based.

Alarmingly, they also found that not one study had assessed the tools used for foster parent selection, or had evaluated pre-service programs related to outcomes.

They also discovered that hardly any study concluded that young adults who had grown up in foster care had better outcomes when compared to peers raised in ‘adverse’ birth family environments. 

Of those studies attempting to establish causal effects, the long-term developmental effects of out-of-home care seemed to be neutral at best. 

Analysis of foster care and its effect on children is severely limited, so it’s no surprise that the researchers chose to highlight the need to address this lack of evidence in their paper.

The study looked at four central questions:

  1. Are there instruments for foster parent selection that promote the children’s health and adaptive behaviour?
  2. Are there pre-service training programs targeting foster parents that promote children’s health and adaptive behaviour?
  3. Are there interventions targeting foster children and foster parents that promote children’s health and adaptive behaviour?
  4. Does foster care intervention in general promote children’s health and adaptive behaviour?
  5. What ethical challenges arise due to the state of the evidence base with regard to the Questions 1–4?

You can read the paper here. 

UG

 

 

Share this:

  • WhatsApp
  • Pocket
  • Telegram
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Email
  • Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 8,460 other subscribers

Contact Researching Reform

Huff Post Contributer

For Litigants in Person

Child Welfare Debates

February 2020
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
242526272829  
« Jan   Mar »

Children In The Vine : Stories From The Family Justice System

Categories

  • Adoption
  • All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and The Court of Protection
  • Articles
  • Big Data
  • Bills
  • Case Study
  • child abuse
  • child abuse inquiry
  • child welfare
  • Children
  • Children In The Vine
  • Circumcision
  • Civil Partnerships
  • Consultation
  • Conversations With…
  • Corporal Punishment
  • CSA
  • CSE
  • Data Pack
  • Domestic Violence
  • Encyclopaedia on Family and The Law
  • event
  • Family Law
  • Family Law Cases
  • FGM
  • FOI
  • forced adoption
  • Foster Care
  • Fudge of the Week
  • Fultemian Project
  • Huffington Post
  • Human Rights
  • IGM
  • Inquiry
  • Interesting Things
  • Interview
  • Judge of the Week
  • Judges
  • judicial bias
  • Law to lust for
  • legal aid
  • LexisNexis Family Law
  • LIP Service
  • LIPs
  • Marriage
  • McKenzie Friends
  • MGM
  • News
  • Notes
  • petition
  • Picture of the Month
  • Podcast
  • Question It
  • Random Review
  • Real Live Interviews
  • Research
  • Researching Reform
  • social services
  • social work
  • Spotlight
  • Stats
  • Terrorism
  • The Buzz
  • The Times
  • Troubled Families Programme
  • Twitter Conversations
  • Update
  • Voice of the Child
  • Voice of the Child Podcast
  • Westminster Debate
  • Who's Who Cabinet Ministers
  • Your Story

Recommended

  • Blawg Review
  • BlogCatalog
  • DaddyNatal
  • DadsHouse
  • Divorce Survivor
  • Enough Abuse UK
  • Family Law Week
  • Family Lore
  • Flawbord
  • GeekLawyer's Blog
  • Head of Legal
  • Just for Kids Law
  • Kensington Mums
  • Law Diva
  • Legal Aid Barristers
  • Lib Dem Lords
  • Lords of The Blog
  • Overlawyered
  • PAIN
  • Paul Bernal's Blog
  • Public Law Guide
  • Pupillage Blog
  • Real Lawyers Have Blogs
  • Story of Mum
  • Sue Atkins, BBC Parenting Coach
  • The Barrister Blog
  • The Magistrate's Blog
  • The Not So Big Society
  • Tracey McMahon
  • UK Freedom of Information Blog
  • WardBlawg

Archives

  • Follow Following
    • Researching Reform
    • Join 814 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Researching Reform
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: