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| The General Social Care Council Advisory Group has put out its first communiqué, having met on 19 November 1999 under the chairmanship of Baroness Pitkeathley. The Group was set up by Department of Health Ministers to advise the Secretary of State and to conduct projects to help with the early development of key functions of the GSCC when it is established. Three subgroups have been established to look at (a) the registration function of the GSCC, (b) the regulation of social work education and training and (c) the establishment of a shadow GSCC in 2000 respectively. Further meetings of the Group have been planned at monthly intervals. |
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The following are summaries of recent news items culled from the media
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Children were "used
as slave labour" at Barlavington Manor, a privately run
care home, between 1966 and 1984, while the staff had affluent
life-styles. People who were formerly children at the home reported
beatings, verbal humiliation, being strapped to their beds, being
forced to scrub floors at night and sexual abuse. Following a
report by Keith Bilton, the Deputy Leader of Kensington and Chelsea
expressed his profound regret that people in the Council's care
suffered as they did. Guardian 17 December 1999 |
The decision in the European
Court that the two boys who killed Jamie Bulger were tried unfairly
will have a major impact on the systems used to try children
in the United Kingdom. It is anticipated that the Crown Courts
will no longer be used and some form of youth courts will be
used for children accused of serious offences. Guardian 17 December 1999 |
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Geoffrey Johnson, 52, a
geography teacher who "groomed and wooed" besotted
teenage pupils before molesting them was jailed for seven years.
Having originally pleaded guilty to eight rapes and seven indecent
assaults, he was found guilty of fifteen indecent assaults. The
offences were spread over a twenty-year period from 1968 to 1988,
and the lawyer defending him said that Geoffrey Johnson had expressed
"heartfelt remorse for his actions". Guardian 21 December 1999 |
Hackney Council became
the first local authority to be issued with a formal Government
warning about the standard of its services for children in care.
A report by the Social Services Inspectorate stated that arrangements
for dealing with children entering care in East Hackney were
unsafe and almost one in four children had no care plan at the
end of September. Nearly one in five of the children's homes
in Hackney did not receive at least one of the inspection visits
required by statute. Guardian 21 December 1999 |
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Under the heading "Mother
of Mothers" Gita Conn wrote a piece about Linda Moss who
has fostered 90 children so far. Essentially it is a one-page
good news story, telling it straight about some of the grief
and the satisfactions of being a fosterparent. Guardian 22 December 1999 |
A two-page article by Wendy
Moore on the impact of poverty on children described how children
from poor families are much more vulnerable to accidents than
their counterparts from richer families. Poor children are 8
times as likely to be killed by a car and 15 times as likely
to die in a fire. However, traffic-calming schemes and ban-the
chip-pan campaigns are having a real impact in reducing accidents.
This is real news and should be on the front page, but even in
the Guardian the space for the article was cut down to make way
for an unpleasant cartoon - sad to think that they think that
it is needed to attract us to such an important subject. Guardian 22 December 1999 |
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Philip Noyes, the Director
of Policy for the NSPCC repeated the arguments for the creation
of a UK Commissioner for Children, with statutory powers to take
action to investigate institutional abuse. Norway, New Zealand
and other countries have had such ombudspersons for some time,
and the campaign is not new. Andrew Lansley, Conservative spokesman
on cabinet office issues and the House of Commons Health Select
Committee have also given support. It is possible that the Waterhouse
Report will put forward the case once more, and the seriousness
of the abuse which occurred in North Wales might be sufficient
to make the Government take action this time. Guardian 27 December 1999 |
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The NSPCC reported
that in 1999 its eleven investigation units undertook more than
80 inquiries into allegations of child abuse involving 200 children
in local authority care. Allegations were made against 138 care
workers, of whom 50 have been charged with cruelty and sex offences.
Neil Hunt of the NSPCC said, "Child abuse in the care system
is not a thing of the past". Times 10 January 2000 |
A
half-page news report gave details on a poll of parents which
showed that two-thirds think that discipline has deteriorated
in the last ten years, and that 51% want corporal punishment
re-introduced. The article gave extensive quotations of teachers,
views and offered two web-sites for further information : www.corpun.com
- the World Corporal Punishment Research Website, and http://nospank.org/toc.htm,
the site of Parent and Teachers Against Violence in Education.
Is there anyone in childcare or social education who admits to
being part of the 51%? If so, please write and justify the case. Guardian 8 January 2000 |