Community Care articles from April 2002

Community Care archives from April 2002

chain of violence.
April 4, 2002... New research examines the links between child abuse deaths and violence against child protection workers. Chris Goddard and Janet Stanley discuss their findings The failures of child protection services have preoccupied health and welfare...

Parenting studies are propaganda.(study of homosexual parenting)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... viewpoint Patricia Morgan says the research methods used in studies of homosexual parenting are so flawed that they prove nothing Now that homosexuals are laying claim to reproductive "rights" and having children by artificial insemination,...

The bare minimum is not enough.(National Care Standards Commission)
April 4, 2002... Care providers have been given a benchmarkto judge their services against. Butindependent consultant Jef Smith says the emphasis should be on raising standardsrather than merely scraping by The laborious task of setting...

In the name ; of the father.(fathers' child care duties)
April 4, 2002... Although mothers are usually seen as having prime responsibility in bringing up children, fathers are increasingly playing a major role in child care. But when problems occur within families do social services recognise fathers' potential when...

Standards; Commission calls for deprivation index.(Audit Commission; Comprehensive)(Performance Assessment)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... The new Comprehensive Performance Assessment system being introduced to grade local authorities' performance must take account of deprivation, the Audit Commission has acknowledged. The commission's CPA draft consultation paper published...

employers missing out.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... this life Disabled people offer some valuable benefits to employers - such as motivation, writes Lucy Butcher I read recently about a survey where three out of four employers claim that the opportunity has never arisen to employ a disabled...

regeneration; Success for joint drugs initiative.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... An initiative to rid the streets of crack cocaine in a north London neighbourhood has been praised during a visit by regeneration minister Sally Keeble. More than 30 crack dens in the Seven Sisters New Deal for Communities area have been...

workforce: Council investigates worker's absence.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... A Liverpool social worker, who sits as chairperson of Merseyside Police Authority, is under investigation by the council after it was alleged she attended police authority meetings while on extended sick leave from her job. The inquiry...

child protection by katie leason; Health visitor struck off register for ignoring warnings of child abuse.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... A health visitor who ignored warnings that children were at risk of abuse has been struck off the nursing register for professional misconduct. Veronica Egenamba, 57, was found guilty by the UKCC, the nurses regulatory body, of two charges...

substance misuse: Scots launch drugs awareness adverts.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... The first phase of a ?6.3m nationwide drugs awareness campaign by the Scottish executive began last week. Television adverts were transmitted across the country as part of the Know the Score campaign, which will also include radio advertising,...

Independent sector; Judges dismiss claims that charity performs 'public functions'.
April 4, 2002... A recent test case has alarmed human rights campaigners about the legal implications of local authorities outsourcing services to independent providers. Lauren Revans reports When does an independent provider become a "public authority" in...

Workforce; Bristol implements single status on pay.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 4, 2002... Around 320 social workers, 50 occupational therapy staff and 500 home care staff could win pay increases of up to ?2,000 per year at Bristol Council, states a new report. Work is under way at the council to review the pay of key social...

Voluntary sector; Council not to blame for charity's collapse.(Newcastle City Council; mental health)(charity)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... A complaint about Newcastle City Council's intervention in the running of a mental health charity has been rejected by the local government ombudsman Patricia Thomas. The complainants alleged that "inappropriate and manipulative"...

Domestic violence; Watchdog criticises abuse campaign.(Advertising Standards Authority;)(Scottish Crime Survey)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... The Advertising Standards Authority has challenged the accuracy of figures on domestic violence used by the Scottish executive in an advertising campaign. The disputed statistics were used in a national advertising campaign in December...

Residential care; Milburn 'slur' angers nursing home sector.(Alan Milburn, health secretary)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Nursing home owners have responded angrily to a comment made by health secretary Alan Milburn in the House of Commons last week. Speaking about capacity problems in nursing and residential care homes he said that respect must be given to...

Child protection by Sally Gillen; Report into Lauren Wright's death puts spotlight on role of health staff.(abused child)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Health professionals must take more responsibility for child protection issues and not rely so much on social workers, a report into Lauren Wright's death has concluded. Commissioned by Norfolk Health Authority, the report into the...

child protection; Calls to NSPCC helpline double.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Calls to the NSPCC's child protection helpline have doubled to more than 500 a day since the launch of the second phase of the charity's Full Stop campaign. More than 5,000 calls came through to the helpline in the first two weeks of the...

workplace: New recruits to get 'comparable' deal.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Public sector union Unison has welcomed the government's "breakthrough" proposals to ensure fair treatment of new recruits working for private companies on local authority contracts. The union said the proposals would stop private companies...

children; July launch date for new Welsh charity.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Plans are under way to form a new charity in Wales following the Children's Society's controversial decision to pull-out of the country. The staff group formed in the aftermath of the society's decision last year says that it has already...

A temporary fix.(grant to voluntary organizations)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Home Secretary David Blunkett's emergency fund for voluntary organisations which face closure because council funding has been cut is a welcome move. It will save some of them from closure, at least in the short term. By setting up the...

readers' views; Grandparents should not be paid.(child care support)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... A small majority of visitors to Community Care's website believe paying grandparents would not be the answer to the crisis in child care. Fifty-seven per cent disagreed with the idea, which the government is considering after examining a...

bitter pill for the National Health Service.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... O nce again, the role of the health service in relation to child protection is under scrutiny. Following the Carlile review's sweeping recommendations for change in the way the NHS in Wales carries out its responsibilities, the report on the...

diversify to survive.
April 4, 2002... The government is reaching out beyond the traditional sources of volunteers in recognition that volunteering is itself a route to social inclusion. Maxine Vernon reports Volunteering is about to receive a 21st century makeover. A major...

voluntary sector by Sally Gillen: Government steps in with money to avoid collapse of voluntary groups.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... A ?500,000 emergency fund has been set up by the government to save a number of voluntary groups that face collapse because councils have cut their funding. The announcement of the money, by home secretary David Blunkett at a conference...

mental health by katie leason; Job applicants do not disclose mental health problems, suggests study.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Only one in three people who have had mental health problems are confident about disclosing this information on job application forms, states a report released last week. However, according to the Mental Health Foundation study, nine out...

private care limits.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Care homes are closing because their owners are saying that local authorities are not paying enough for residents. But should the private sector be running care for older people, asks Alison Taylor In March, Rose Cottle, at 102 older than...

homelessness; Pets not welcome at homeless hostels.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... More than eight out of 10 homeless people with pets have been denied accommodation because they own a pet, according to a survey by the Blue Cross animal welfare charity. The charity last week launched a campaign to urge housing providers...

outreach across the pond.
April 4, 2002... Assertive outreach is widely acknowledged as the way forward to improve quality of life for people in the community with mental he alth problems. So what progress has it made in the UK, asks Ruth Winchester, while Isabel Schwarz Travel...

Grandmother holds the key.
April 4, 2002... A mother and father are suspected of repeated physical assaults on their baby daughter and she is placed in care. Fiona Bennett (pictured left) led a risk assessment team that had to decide on the baby's future care, and whether to...

free and easy.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... It is recognised that children and young people rarely bother to complain themselves. So Staffordshire made available a freephone number to encourage more feedback. Graham Hopkins reports S ome might argue that those working in complaints...

When less is more.(wordy social texts)(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... the write stuff Graham Hopkins advises writers of social care reports and guidelines to cut the word count Padding is unquestionably the greatest crime in social care writing. It even leaves pomposity and the use of jargon gasping for...

in search of a sense of belonging.(Brief Article)
April 4, 2002... Yvonne roberts ponders the culture that in the UK prevents young black men from realising their talents Black film-maker Lennie James, in a powerful essay in the latest issue of the monthly political magazine Prospect, comments on the...

schools morass.
April 11, 2002... The placement of disabled children in residential schools brings into question the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Researcher Jenny Morris explains why Many local authorities are failing to...

hidden homeless.
April 11, 2002... A plethora of new government initiatives relating to youth homelessness urgently requires local authorities and other agencies to work together and listen to young people, says the Foyer Federation's Carolyn Hayman Recently,...

controlling influence.
April 11, 2002... Institutions such as nursing homes and prisons are increasingly using psychoactive prescription drugs to control people in their care. Natalie Valios reports How many social workers and care staff wish that their disruptive, angry or...

some less equal than others.
April 11, 2002... In the brave new world of multidisciplinary and multi-agency teams, how much you earn may depend not on what you do but on who your employer is, which may lead to disparities in pay and conditions. Sarah Wellard reports How would you feel...

miscarriage of justice?
April 11, 2002... Campaigners claim that former staff in children's homes are being convicted of crimes involving the abuse of children that they did not commit. Rachel Downey reports Three weeks ago former care worker Roy Shuttleworth left prison...

professional dilemma.
April 11, 2002... Moves are afoot to improve the status and professionalism of community mental health support workers. But could those moves undermine their relationship with clients, asks Simon Lawton Smith of mental health charity Maca Community mental...

give... and take.(Brief Article)
April 11, 2002... welfare rights The new allowance for disabled young people has good intentions but is over-complex, writes Gary Vaux This April, many disabled young people will find themselves coming off a benefit called severe disablement allowance (SDA)....

spruced-up service.(Norway's welfare system)(Brief Article)
April 11, 2002... letter from norway Gro Wilhelmsen reports from Stavanger, where the welfare system is supplemented by a volunteer scheme that provides extra support for users and experience for social work students Stavanger, the fourth biggest town...

vital statistics for social work.(social workers need a basic understanding of statistics)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... viewpoint A basic grasp of some key statistical principles is of paramount importance to social workers, says Tony Newman Let's face it, social workers don't like statistics. Most of us are apprehensive when we open a textbook on...

embrace; the fear.(social care workers and fear)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Fear in social work has always been portrayed as a negative factor. But emergency team managerMartin Smith says that practitioners need to feel it and learn from it The No Fear campaign featured in Community Care in 1999 drew attention to...

stress and strain of moving.(research concerns the psychological impact of residential home relocation on staff, residents, and relatives)
April 18, 2002... Researchers Cynthia Wyld, Patricia Duff, Sara Arber and Kate Davidson report on their study examining the reactions of residents, relatives and staff to changes caused by temporary relocation when residential homes have to be rebuilt or...

children in ; THe round.(ecological approach benefits children)
April 18, 2002... Barnardo's Terry Jones, Jenny Lewis and Owen Gill argue that adopting an "ecological" approach brings into play powerful forces for the benefit of children The Department of Health guidelines on the assessment of vulnerable...

social care; expects?(social work students' expections)
April 18, 2002... Clare Jerrom kicks off a new series following six social work students as they approach the end of their courses and begin the search for employment in the social care sector. Here, the six introduce themselves and reveal their experiences and...

spoken for.(advocacy movement in the United Kingdom)
April 18, 2002... Advocacy is currently viewed highly favoura bly by the government and moves are afoot to further professionalise it. But what is a dvocacy's true value, asks Natalie Valios Advocates - people who "support, speak in favour of, or...

child protection; Call to support adult abuse victims.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Adults giving evidence in court about abuse they suffered as a child should receive long-term social work support and the same consideration now being afforded to child witnesses, according to a report under consideration in Scotland. The...

child protection by clare jerrom; London police to revamp system for dealing with child abuse by strangers.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... The Metropolitan Police Authority is to phase in improvements in the way it handles abuse offences by strangers. The move comes three weeks after a Camden area child protection committee report recommended changes to the way the police deal...

own worst enemy?(Peter White discusses social issues concerning disabled people)(Brief Article)(Editorial)
April 18, 2002... Peter White is not convinced that disabled people are their own best advocates, and would prefer someone who knows the opposition and how to represent disabled people against their prejudices The trend toward advocacy for vulnerable people...

bringingin thosecoming out.(social services for gay and lesbian teenagers)
April 18, 2002... Homophobic attitudes within society mean that lesbian and gay teenagers face a unique set of problems, and there is a need for targeted services in areas such as housing and foster care. Anabel Unity Sale reports Danny had been in care...

funding; Council faces legal challenge over cuts.(Oxfordshire Council may be challenged by Unison)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Oxfordshire Council may face a legal challenge from public sector union Unison over its decision to vote through a ?9m package of cuts affecting vulnerable people in the county in an attempt to redress an overspend of ?5.3m. Unison branch...

workforce; Dismissal sparks Wandsworth strike.(Wandsworth Council staff strike over dismissal of social services finance officer)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Staff at Wandsworth Council went on a one-day strike last week over the dismissal of a social services finance officer. According to the council, Sarbani Mazumdar was dismissed from the south London council last month for committing a...

a direct line to sanity.(Saneline helpline has helped author)(Brief Article)(Column)
April 18, 2002... this life Practical information provided by telephone helpline Saneline was of enormous benefit to Richard Jameson You are desperate. You have reached a state of misery that it is hard to imagine. It may not even occur to you to ask for...

disabilities; Benefit assessment process under fire.(Disability Alliance complain over disability benefits)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Charity for disabled people Disability Alliance told Community Care last week that it was "appalled" by the complete lack of progress the government has made in improving the medical assessment process for disability benefits. Chief...

Child protection; Welsh inquiry to pay legal costs.(for abused children)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Victims of alleged child abuse giving evidence at the first public inquiry by Peter Clarke, the children's commissioner for Wales, will have their legal representation paid for to a limit of ?10,000 for all. The eight claimants who are due...

joint working; Poor funding threat to care integration.(social and health services)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Integration between health and social services is improving and both are better regulated now than they were before, according to a report from the King's Fund. However, the report suggests that progress could still be seriously impeded by...

youth Justice; Too many children in prison, says charity.(Nacro, child imprisonment in Wales and England)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... More children are imprisoned in England and Wales than any other European country, despite Home Office statistics showing youth crime has fallen between 1993 and 2000, a report says this week. Legal powers designed to deal only with very...

Training; Applications to be social workers fall.(amount of social workers declines)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 18, 2002... The number of people applying to become social workers fell again last year. For 2001 entry there were just 4,703 applicants to the social work admissions system, which processes 60 per cent of the total number of applications, compared...

joint working; Somerset partnership model lays groundwork for care trusts.(evaluation of Somerset's mental health services)
April 18, 2002... An evaluation of Somerset's "blueprint" for integrated working offers food for thought for the new care trusts. Lauren Revans reports on the implications for staff Last week, the Institute for Applied Health and Social Policy at King's...

older people; Intermediate care achieving targets.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 18, 2002... Services for older people are "well on track" to meet 2003-4 NHS plan targets for intermediate care with 2,400 more intermediate care beds, according to a report from the Department of Health. The report reveals that most areas have good...

victoria climbie inquiry by sally gillen; Social workers lack assessment skills, say child care professionals.(some social workers lack analytical skills to do job)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Many social workers responsible for carrying out assessments lack the analytical skills to do so, said child care professionals at the Victoria Climbi? Inquiry last week. David Spicer, honorary secretary of the British Association for the...

residential care; Care homes closure decision delayed.(Plymouth Council review panel)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Failure by Plymouth Council to find suitable people to serve on a review panel has delayed decisions about the fate of two residential homes by a further five months. The council agreed to set up a special panel to allow residents of...

standards; Scie appoints seven board members.(Social Care Institute for Excellence)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Seven more members have been appointed to the board of the Social Care Institute for Excellence. Scie will be responsible for collating evidence of what works in social care, translating it into a knowledge base for social care and then...

homelessness; Homeless people to work as tour guides.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Homeless people are to be employed as tour guides, as part of a pioneering training programme. Ten people will be selected to take part in the scheme, developed by Liverpool Council and the Big Issue in the North. They will receive...

time to open the wallet.(low starting salaries contributing to social worker shortage)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 18, 2002... The news that the number of people applying to become social workers has fallen dramatically over the last seven years comes as no surprise to those desperately trying to fill vacant posts. One reason for the fall is that social work...

readers' views; Limits on police probes favoured.(Will the star ratings for social services to be announced in May improve services? )(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Two-thirds of visitors to Community Care's website believe there should be time limits on police investigations into historical child abuse. This week's question asks: Will the star ratings for social services to be announced in May...

Finance; Budget will increase spending on health.(budget includes initiatives to fight poverty)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... As Community Care went to press chancellor Gordon Brown was expected to announce the scale of the increases in spending on health for 2003-4 to 2006-7. The Budget was also due to reveal initiatives to tackle poverty, including the new...

the making of star wars.(social services departments ratings system)(Brief Article)(Column)
April 18, 2002... Next month, the government's increasingly labyrinthine procedure for evaluating social services departments moves on, with publication of the first "star ratings". In many authorities, several full-time employees are gathering performance...

children; Blunkett voices alcohol concern.(children and drinking)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... David Blunkett urged parents to take responsibility for their children's drinking habits at a conference on youth crime this week. Parents who gave their children alcohol were "committing child abuse as much as if they were breaking their...

asylum seekers by anabel unity sale and Clare Jerrom; Asylum bill runs into storm of criticism over education in centres.(Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill )(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... The government's long-awaited Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill has been criticised for proposing to educate asylum seekers' children in accommodation centres instead of mainstream schools. The bill, published last week, says all...

fostering links.(support system for foster care-givers in Lincolnshire)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Many looked-after children have mental health problems that make life highly challenging for foster carers. In Lincolnshire a service has been set up to ensure that carers never feel isolated. Graham Hopkins reports As many as one in five...

training by reg McKAy ; Fall in graduate numbers leads to scrapping of Edinburgh degree.(Edinburgh University dropping social work degree)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Edinburgh University is to scrap its social work degree course despite the profession's deepening recruitment crisis. The university, which has provided some of the most respected social work training schemes in Scotland, is to close its...

Regeneration by sally gillen; Voluntary sector urges government to monitor community involvement.(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... The government's whole neighbourhood renewal strategy could be at risk unless regional government offices develop "robust ways" of testing whether communities are genuinely involved, a leading regeneration group warned last week. John...

local government; Walsall restructures senior management.(two employees leave Walsall Council)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Two directors at Walsall Council are leaving their jobs as part of a major restructuring of the council's senior management team. Director of social services Don Phillips and director for education and community services Chris Green have...

performance by Lauren REVans and Clare Jerrom; Star ratings system will allow for ongoing improvements, says Milburn.(Alan Milburn, Health Secretary)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Health secretary Alan Milburn has agreed to calls from the Local Government Association to allow the ratings of zero-star councils to be changed to reflect improvements during the year when the star ratings scheme is introduced for social...

trust is the key.(in social services industry)
April 18, 2002... When a 57-year-old man began to suffer from a chronic physical illness he spurned help. Then Rufus Beer (pictured left) set about winning his trust and helped him to develop more control over his life, writes Graham Hopkins O ver the...

It's not unusual.(apostrophe usage)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... the write stuff Graham Hopkins advises on the use of apostrophes - one of the more hazardous areas of written English There can be little doubt that the apostrophe - which Kingsley Amis called "this vexing little mark"- is responsible for...

still held down by the middle class.(analysis of the working class in the United Kingdom)(Brief Article)
April 18, 2002... Yvonne roberts What defines the working class is a continuing lack of opportunity to maximise its drive and talent The working class is no more. So says a property company that wants to build million-pound homes on a site covered by a...

The young at heart.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2002... letter from belgium Rudi Roose reports from Ghent on a networking project aimed at transforming the way youth care is carried out in Flanders by putting the client - not the organisation - centre stage The Flemish government is...

The subtle lessons of a tragic case.(child care)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2002... viewpoint The Victoria Climbi? inquiry should beware the dangers of knee-jerk recommendations, says Elizabeth McAteer Most practitioners in the field of child care social work will be committed to learning from the outcome of the Victoria...

Europe's largesse.(social care)
April 25, 2002... The European Union has proved a valuable source of finance and inspiration for social care in the UK,lecturer in international social care Brian Munday offers a guide to sources of EU funding There is no escaping the continuing and...

Mental health; Delay for 'consent to treatment' bill.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2002... Abill intended to provide protection for people with a mental disorder who are unable to consent to being treated in hospital has been delayed because of an objection by a government whip. The provisions of the Patients Without Legal...

Paws for Thought.(dogs help in social care industry)(Brief Article)
April 25, 2002... The home secretary has used a guide dog to help him do his job for years. Now charities are providing dogs to help deaf and disabled people with physical chores and even as companions, writes Natalie Valios Could man's best friend help plug...

Older people; Assessment must back good practice.(Brief Article)
April 25, 2002... Tools used to implement the single assessment process must support good practice not replace it, a Department of Health's spokesperson said last week. Raymond Warburton, head of social care for older people at the DoH, told a London...