Category Archives: event

TODAY: Westminster Debate on the Sexual Exploitation of Children in Care

23 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by in event, Researching Reform, Westminster Debate

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A Westminster Hall debate on the sexual and criminal exploitation of looked after children takes place today.

The debate, which will be led by Ann Coffey MP and is scheduled for 2.30pm, will focus on the latest report from the APPG for Runaway and Missing Children and Adults and ways to make placements safer for children.

The APPG is asking the government to introduce an Emergency Action Plan to tackle the issue. Key measures the APPG would like to see implemented include funding for councils to develop local provision, including children’s homes and foster placements, as well as  regulation and inspection of semi-independent accommodation.

The APPG’s Chair is Ann Coffey, the MP hosting this afternoon’s debate. The Group has two Vice Chairs, Tim Loughton and Sir Peter Bottomley, while the position of Secretariat for the APPG is held jointly by The Children’s Society and Missing People, who were both paid up to £3,000 for their engagement with the APPG. As of the last AGM (October 2018), the group did not publish an income and expenditure statement.

You can see full details for the APPG on the Register at page 996.

Westminster Hall debates allow MPs to raise local or national issues with a view to receiving a response from a government minister.

The debates are open to the public and are held in the Grand Committee Room, just off Westminster Hall.

Useful links:

Parliament TV

 

Court Reform Event

10 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by in event, Researching Reform

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The Courts and Tribunals Service has launched an event to showcase its latest updates to the court system and it has opened the conference to the public.

The changes to the system are part of a £1bn reform programme, which covers family, criminal and civil courts as well as tribunals.

According to the invitation for the event, the programme has now reached its halfway point. It is not clear whether the halfway point refers to the amount of work completed or the time period the reform programme has to complete its updates.

The conference itself will include presentations and market stalls, and will also give people the chance to ask questions to individuals who are leading the programme’s development.

The event takes place on Tuesday 5th November, at the Ministry of Justice in London, and runs from 9.15am to 1.30pm.

The invitation says places are limited and registration is required to express an interest in the first instance. The team will then contact you to confirm attendance or to notify you that you’ve been added to a waiting list.

The Eventbrite page can be accessed here.

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Children in Care Want to see More “Love, Respect and Recognition” – Conference

04 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in event, Research, Researching Reform

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The first ever conference dedicated specially to children who have experienced the care system has published its report on the event, and it is a must-read for anyone working with children.

The Care Experienced Conference, which is chaired by Ian Dickson, a retired social worker and former Ofsted inspector who grew up in care and now advocates for children’s rights, took place in April and offered 20 workshops touching on a broad range of subjects nominated by care experienced people.

There were 141 care experienced people at the conference ranging from 14 to 82 years old, and attendees came from all walks of life.

The conference also featured outstanding artwork by individuals who have been in care, and many of the pieces are deeply moving. You can see the artwork here.

The conference group has published two documents, one being a summary report on the event and the other being a research report.

We have not had the chance to read the research report yet, but we will as soon as we get the chance. The summary offers quotes about experiences inside the care system shared by people of all ages, and while the sentiments are well known to most of us who have been campaigning to raise awareness around these issues it is wonderful that there is now a conference to represent children inside the system.

Some of the quotes will also be loaded with meaning for some. For example, this one:

“Bin bags.”

This refers to the way in which children’s belongings are ‘packed up’ when they are sent to a placement. They have to carry their possessions around in a plastic bin liner.

The summary also offers a list of the top ten messages delivered at the conference:

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Unsurprisingly, the biggest takeaways from the conference were that children in care needed to feel loved, and that the system had failed entirely to provide the nurturing children need.

One of the other important aspects about this summary report is that it includes the names of the core working group for the conference, and the many individuals and organisations who supported the event.

While Researching Reform doesn’t know everyone on those lists, the names we did recognise were all professionals we would call “the good guys” inside the sector, including Ian Dickson, who we have known for some time through the social media platform Twitter.

They are men and women who champion children and believe in pure social work, which places the needs of every child above any other aspect inside the system. These are individuals worth following.

Useful links:

Conference Home Page

Summary Report

Research Report

You can catch Ian on Twitter @IDickson258.

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Free Event: Preserving Family Connections with Children in Care

28 Wednesday Aug 2019

Posted by in event, Researching Reform

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A free event organised by the Centre for Child and Family Justice (CFJ) and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory (FJO) will look at the preservation of family ties with children inside the care system.

The event, “Children in Care: Preserving Family Connections?” will look at new research from the UK and Australia focusing specifically on questions around family connections for children in care.

The programme includes sessions on trends and patterns relating to children and how they enter the care system in Australia and England; how contact and reunification between birth families and their children are dealt with in both countries; and alternatives to child removal.

There is a session at the end of the day which offers responses from birth parents too.

Attendees will be given a copy of the new rapid evidence review on Special Guardianship, published by the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory, (which you can download here without having to attend the event).

The CFJ will also share updates on its upcoming events, Nuffield FJO plans and new research projects. (You can follow new projects as they are launched here).

The event is taking place on 19th September from 10am-5pm at Forrest Hills in Lancashire. The venue is located next to Lancaster University, the institution which currently runs the Centre for Child and Family Justice.

You can sign up for the day’s sessions on the CFJ’s Eventbrite page. 

If you have any queries about the event, you can contact Chris Millan at chris.millan@lancaster.ac.uk.

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Child Abuse Protest To Be Held Outside Houses of Parliament

05 Monday Aug 2019

Posted by in child abuse, event, Researching Reform

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A protest outside the Houses of Parliament to raise awareness about child abuse in the UK is taking place this Wednesday.

The demonstration has been organised by whistleblower and former Scotland Yard detective Jon Wedger, and survivors of child abuse at Beecholme childrens home and Quarriers Children’s Village.

The event marks the first of its kind for the group, which is hoping to hold the protests on the first Wednesday of every month.

The demonstrations are part of a growing number of child welfare-focused protest movements which meet monthly to expose the gaps within the UK’s child protection system.

Legal Action for Women (LAW) has been holding monthly protests outside the London Family Court under their campaign Support Not Separation to highlight issues around wrongful removal of children and discrimination faced by parents experiencing poverty and hardship. The protests are also held on the first Wednesday of every month.

The Facebook page for the protest outside Parliament confirms at least 27 people are attending the protest, with 44 people interested in attending so far.

The protest will be held this month on 7 August, from noon-2pm.

Many thanks to Raul for alerting us to this development.

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House of Commons Releases Debate Pack For Youth Services Discussion

24 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in event, Researching Reform

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The House of Commons library has published a briefing paper for a debate on youth services in England, Wales and Scotland, being held in parliament today.

The pack is 23 pages long, and includes information on the statutory duties and responsibilities held by local authorities in relation to the provision of youth services; funding for these services; and the impact of reduced council budgets on youth services around the country.

Very interesting questions and comments around youth services asked in the House of Commons by MPs in July are a fascinating addition to this pack, which also confirmed that the Government would review its guidance on the statutory duty for local authorities to provide youth services.

The review was launched on 10th July. 

The questions also confirm that the Prime Minister’s knife crime task force has only met twice, and that the Home Office would be publishing draft guidance on the operation of Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs) for public consultation in the near future.

Here are some extracts:

Asked by: Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)

The Home Secretary really should be ashamed of himself. If he comes to a place such as Huddersfield and other towns in West Yorkshire, which my right hon. Friend the Member for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford (Yvette Cooper) has just mentioned, he will find that it is about not only diverting young people from violence, gangs and crime, but tackling extremist views early on. If the Government dismantle local government youth services, they cannot just pass the responsibility across to community associations and think that is okay.

Answered by: Sajid Javid | Conservative Party | Department: Home Department

The hon. Gentleman should know that we have done a great deal since 2000 to support community projects, including youth community projects. I mentioned earlier the £63 million that we put into the “Building a Stronger Britain Together” programme. That is through the Home Office alone, but much more is going on through the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Department for Education and local government. He mentions Huddersfield. Just last week, I had the pleasure of meeting a young man called Jamal, who was the victim of racism, a form of extremism, in the hon. Gentleman’s own constituency. I had the opportunity to welcome him to our great country and to tell him that what happened to him in Huddersfield in no way represents the people of our great nation.

Asked by: Lord Roberts of Llandudno | Party: Liberal Democrats

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to support youth services working to deter young people from crime, and violent crime in particular.

Answering member: Lord Ashton of Hyde | Party: Conservative Party | Department: Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Youth services and their strategic partners provide crucial preventative and targeted interventions and are an important partner in the strategy to tackle serious violence. My Department allocated over £863m between 2014/15 and 2018/19 to youth programmes providing positive activities for young people.

The Home Office’s £200m Youth Endowment Fund will deliver a ten-year programme of grants enabling interventions targeted at those who are most at risk of involvement in crime and violence in England and Wales. This follows an investment of £22m by the Home Office between 2018/19 and 2019/20 through the Early Intervention Youth Fund to support community services which deter young people from violent crime.

Her Majesty’s Government will continue to work together closely to implement the Home Office’s Serious Violence Strategy.

You can watch the debate here. 

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House of Commons Debate on Youth Services

19 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in child welfare, event, Researching Reform

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The House of Commons will be holding a general debate on youth services next week.

The discussion will look at the role and sufficiency of youth services. Youth services include cooking classes, sports lessons, volunteering projects, coding classes for girls and support for homeless young people.

Youth services have been badly affected by budget cuts, and there is a prevailing view that youth centres provide children at risk with a home-from-home and somewhere they can feel safe, learn important skills and experience a sense of community.

Since 2011, at least £22 million has been cut from youth service budgets in London, and councils in the city have cut their youth service budget by around £1 million. Figures suggest that around 30 youth centres in London have been shut down, affecting 12,700 places for young people.

A piece over at Rife – Bristol’s very excellent magazine written by and for young people in the city – explains why the centres are so important to the kids in the area. The article mentions that 79% of young people who are considered vulnerable or in need, use youth services and that while these services are used by children in need, there is currently no legal duty on the government to ensure their provision.

A survey carried out by Unison asked young people what they felt about the impact youth service cuts had on their lives. In response, 83 per cent said the cuts were having an effect on crime and antisocial behaviour, and 71 per cent said the lack of services had made it harder for young people to stay in formal education.

The debate will be held on Wednesday 24 July, in the main chamber, and a briefing paper for the discussion will be made available shortly, which we will share with you as soon as we receive it.

Useful links:

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Image: False Economy – Young people protest youth service cuts in Birmingham

House of Commons Briefing Paper: Child Mental Health Services

15 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in child welfare, event, Researching Reform

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The government has published a briefing paper ahead of a debate on children and mental health services being held tomorrow.

The discussion, which has been selected by the Backbench Business Committee and is being opened by Andrea Leadsom MP, the former Leader of the House of Commons, will look at the government’s efforts to ensure children’s mental health needs are being met.

The briefing paper, entitled, “Children and young people’s mental health – policy, CAMHS services, funding and education”, offers a good summary of developments around children and mental health services from 2010 to the present day.

You can watch the debate on Parliament TV.

The briefing paper can be found here.

The Backbench Business Committee can be followed on Twitter @CommonsBBCom

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Children and Mental Health Services – Parliamentary Debate

11 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by in child welfare, Children, event, Researching Reform

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A debate on children and their access to mental health services will take place in Parliament on 16 July.

The discussion has been organised by Andrew Griffiths MP.

Further details about the debate are not yet available but we will share them as soon as the House of Commons library offers the next update.

Councils have said that children experiencing mental health problems have increased by as much as 54 percent in the last four years, with more than 560 cases reported daily last year on average.

Figures by the Children’s Society suggest that at least 100,000 children are being denied access to mental health services because the problems are not deemed serious enough by adolescent mental health services.

In some parts of the UK, children are waiting up to a year for a mental health assessment.

Andrew Griffiths came to the public’s attention last year after he suffered a nervous breakdown. Griffiths was also investigated by the Conservative Party in 2018 for sending sexual messages to two women in his constituency. It was reported that he sent the women 2,000 messages in three weeks.

The debate will take place in Westminster Hall and will start at 2.30pm.

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Lady Hale asks: What is a 21st Century Family?

10 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in event, Family Law, Researching Reform

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President of the Supreme Court Lady Hale gave a speech on July 1 which looked at modern families and the changing nature of child law in Britain.

Lady Hale made the speech, entitled, “What is a 21st Century Family?” at the International Centre for Family Law, Policy and Practice, a not for profit company set up to share and develop research on areas of family and child law.

Hale is a patron of the company, and Professor Marilyn Freeman and Dr France Burton are co-directors.

The speech offers a comprehensive history of marriage and the ways in which family as a concept has changed over time, including the use of surrogacy within a family setting.

In summary, Lady Hale highlights three things that she believes stand out from the developments of the last 50 years:

• A growing desire and respect for individual autonomy in adult decision-making, by men and women

• Children’s best interests increasingly seen as paramount

• A tension between adults wanting their individual autonomy and honouring the best interests of their children, where the two needs conflict.

Before Lady Hale took up her position as President of the Supreme Court, she worked extensively in the family courts and is perhaps best known as the architect of the Children Act 1989.

You can read the speech here.

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