Community Care articles from February 2004

Community Care archives from February 2004

back in touch.(Birthlink's Care Connect)
February 5, 2004... Our series on Community Care Awards schemes continues with a look at the supporting children and families category winner, Birthlink's Care Connect project. Alison Miller reports The need to know where we come from and to understand as...

Higher hurdles in store?
February 5, 2004... Continue with the old inspection methods or pioneer new ones? That is the choice facing the Commission for Social Care Inspection when it starts operation in April, writes Natalie Valios The seven-year itch is not just a phenomenon of...

a life of false starts.
February 5, 2004... In March 1991 I became very stressed. I was at college doing a foundation course. Two weeks after I started I was told I could have done the family and community care course I originally wanted to do. This made me feel angry and hurt. Instead I...

pulled in all.(public health)
February 5, 2004... directions Intermediate care co-ordinators face a huge challenge to meet the expectations of the NHS Plan and national service frameworks. Consultant nurse Liz Lees considers the prospects The NHS Plan is the catalyst for immense...

expert witnesses; in the dock.
February 5, 2004... Questions are being asked about the weight experts' evidence carries in court cases that decide whether to remove children from their parents. Sally Gillen reports on the fallout from professor Sir Roy Meadow's controversial evidence on...

long-term care; Social care and NHS relations 'unhelpful'.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Lack of joint working between health and social services departments continues to hamper the effectiveness of care for long-term conditions, according to professionals. Written responses to the consultation on the national service...

taming ; the sharks.(Association of British Credit Unions)(Industry Overview)
February 5, 2004... For people on low incomes obtaining a loan can mean three-figure interest rates. But there are organisations that are helping to provide credit at affordable prices and remove the burden of debt. Rachel Foggitt reports For...

voluntary sector; Charities spend less on training workers.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Charities spend on average 30 per cent less on training for their staff than other sectors, according to a survey published this week. Agenda Consultancy, which specialises in management issues in the not-for-profit sector, finds that...

Children; Chastisement excuse 'a gross anomaly'.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The Welsh children's commissioner repeated calls last week for the removal of the defence of reasonable chastisement. Speaking at a lecture organised by the British Institute of Human Rights in London, Peter Clarke said: "Children are the...

disabilities; Airline's wheelchair charge is 'unlawful'.(Stansted Airport Limited)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Budget airline Ryanair's practice of charging disabled passengers for the use of wheelchairs is "unlawful", a judge ruled last week. Bob Ross, who has cerebral palsy and arthritis, was charged [pounds sterling]18 for the use of a...

child protection; Advocacy servicefor parents launched.(Family Rights Group)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The Family Rights Group charity officially launched its advocacy service for parents involved in child protection proceedings this week. The London-wide service, which has been running since October, has already received about 40 referrals,...

workforce; Increase in overseas social workers poses ethical questions for councils.(Dolma International Placement)(socialworkrecruitment.com)(United Kingdom. General Social Care Council)(Industry Overview)
February 5, 2004... Developing countries might be a source of staff for social services departments. But is this is a realistic or desirable answer to the recruitment problem? Derren Hayes reports The success of the NHS in recruiting nurses from developing...

workforce by clare jerrom; Employers dismiss 'unrealistic' pay claim as threat to jobs and services.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Local government employers have branded a joint pay claim from unions representing local government workers as "unrealistic and unaffordable". Unison, GMB and the Transport and General Workers Union set out their demands last week,...

Workforce by Maggie wood; Registration woe for Scottish staff as councils fail to offer training.
February 5, 2004... Staff training is being treated as a "dispensable extra" in a number of Scottish local authorities, the chief inspector of social work revealed last week. In his third annual report, Angus Skinner finds that some councils are failing to...

children; Minister's 'insulting' response attacked.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The health and social services minister for Wales has come under fire for her "insulting" response to concerns raised about child and adolescent mental health services. Welsh children's commissioner Peter Clarke claimed in his annual...

workforce; Rural Sure Start told to 'grow your own'.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Sure Start projects in rural areas must develop their own staff's talents rather than compete for scarce skilled people, a report published by the Countryside Agency recommends this week. It adds that existing services must not be...

race; 'Equality key to better services'.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Public services need a change in "mindset" to overcome barriers to race equality, says an Audit Commission report published this week. Public bodies need to see race equality as "beneficial to everyone and a key driver for better services...

residential care; Guide to contracts with private homes.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The Office of Fair Trading has published a guide defining unfair contract terms in private care homes. The guide, for potential self-funding care home residents, outlines the details that should be included in a care home contract, the...

registration; Sector backs 'social worker' title move.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The government's plan to restrict the use of the title "social worker" to those registered by the UK's four care councils by April 2005 have been welcomed by the sector. The government has proposed that anyone not registered with a care...

Home care by ; Free care at home for people with dementia possible in wake of ruling.
February 5, 2004... C ampaigners have welcomed a landmark ruling by the health service ombudsman that could pave the way for dementia sufferers to receive free care in their own homes. Barbara Pointon spent four years battling with the health service for free...

learning difficulties; Consultation on bill is not user-friendly.(United Kingdom. Disability Discrimination Bill )(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... People with learning difficulties warned this week that the consultation on the draft Disability Discrimination Bill is inaccessible to service users. Michelle Chinery, co-chairperson of the Learning Disability Task Force, said that the...

performance; Plymouth chief to go after star wanes.(Plymouth Council personnel)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Plymouth Council's director of social services has announced her retirement after a difficult year for the department in which its star rating fell from one to zero. Lesley Reid, who has led Plymouth social services for two years, will...

children; Preventive services facing budget cuts.(North East Lincolnshire Council)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... North East Lincolnshire Council could be forced to scale back preventive services for children in order to tackle a funding crisis. A report by the Audit Commission identifies the children and young persons' strategic partnership as having...

child protection; No rush to review child death cases.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Fears that social services departments would be flooded with requests to review civil cases involving children who had been taken into care as a result of expert medical advice, have proved unfounded, early indications reveal. A straw poll...

standards; Bedfordshire faces withering criticism.(report of Social Services Inspectorate )(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Vulnerable children are still not being protected by Bedfordshire Council, according to a damning Social Services Inspectorate report released this week. It finds that the zero-rated department's children's services have a number of...

asylum; Section 55 ruling upheld by judge.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... A High Court judge last week upheld a Home Office decision to deny a Congolese man support because he claimed asylum four days after arriving in the UK. Patrick Wembo arrived in London last May and travelled to his disabled brother's home...

funding; Schools' spending may force cuts.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The government has finalised the funding settlement for local authorities for 2004-5 amid growing concerns that it will force many councils to cut services. Despite councils receiving an average grant increase of 7.3 per cent next year,...

disabilities; All aboard the rocket to Mars.(Leonard Cheshire)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... It may be easier to travel to Mars in 2035 than for older or disabled people to access British trains, disability charity Leonard Cheshire claimed last week. Launching its All Aboard postcard campaign, the disability charity said that...

workplace; Staff to take action at Liverpool Council.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Children's services at Liverpool Council look set to be disrupted after social workers voted overwhelmingly for industrial action because of concerns over workloads. Of the 145 Unison social workers balloted, 94.5 per cent voted in favour...

children; Anger over cuts to Fund money.(Children's Fund)(United Kingdom. National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Children's Fund money will be cut by around [pounds sterling]50m over the next two years, Community Care's sister title 0-19 revealed this week. A letter sent last week to programme managers by Children's Fund director Kathy Bundred says...

criminal justice; Released prisoners to get housing help.(National Offenders Management Service)(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The Home Office plans to help offenders find accommodation on release from prison, a conference on mental health provision for young offenders heard last week. An action plan will establish regional strategies to work alongside the new...

do experts know best?(Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy)
February 5, 2004... Professionals give their views on whether Munchausen's syndrome by proxy exists, the reliance on expert knowledge and the implications for child protection if specialists become reluctant to give evidence 'parents are most...

joint working by derren hayes; Closer working may herald joint health and social services targets.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Social workers and health professionals could be working towards joint targets in the future as the government's drive to integrate services gathers pace. A performance development group has been set up within the Department of Health to...

exclusive by amy taylor; Doubts cast on government figures for missing asylum-seeking children.
February 5, 2004... Government figures on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who go missing from care are under close scrutiny this week. The most recent government figures available state that 15 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children went missing from...

criminal justice; 'Difficult' prisoners at risk from transfer.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... Moving prisoners around the secure estate contributes to self-harm and suicides in custody, Anne Owers warned this week. The chief inspector of prisons said the lack of spare capacity in prisons meant offenders, and particularly those aged...

public disorder; Plan to dock housing benefit dropped.(Brief Article)
February 5, 2004... The government has shelved plans to dock the housing benefit of antisocial neighbours after a consultation exercise revealed massive opposition to the proposed sanction. Work and pensions minister Chris Pond said last week that, although...

honesty wins the day.(admitting caregiver burnout)
February 5, 2004... When clients show insight and talk openly about their behaviour, social care workers' jobs are made easier. Here, Graham Hopkins talks to Pat Harvey and Ian McAlpine (pictured) about a case involving elder abuse...

it's pay back time.(overpayments)(Column)
February 5, 2004... welfare rights Clawing back overpayments of tax credits can lead to genuine hardship, writes Gary Vaux Last April in this column we warned social work staff that the real problem with tax credits would come later in 2003 and in 2004 when...

the only way is up.
February 5, 2004... Stepping into your first job in management can be as daunting as it is exciting. Here, Daphne Obang and Claire Smart offer some practical tips to help as you move up the ladder So it's happened at last. After years of passing the buck with...

School's out.(children with Asperger's syndrome)
February 12, 2004... Children with Asperger's syndrome are being excluded from the education system, writes specialist schools director Stephen Bradshaw Asperger's syndrome is a recently recognised developmental disorder within the autistic spectrum. It occurs...

healthy Haven.(Harbour Project)(Family Service Units)
February 12, 2004... The final article of our series on Community Care Awards schemes looks at the winner of the drugs and alcohol category, the Harbour Project. Sarah Bartlett reports People who misuse drugs and alcohol often lead chaotic lifestyles. And the...

should providers return 'in house'?(elder services)
February 12, 2004... Up and down the country social services departments are locked in discussions with their health counterparts on how best to integrate their adult services. Care trusts represent the latest and most radical step on the journey to achieving...

stamp out racism in NHS.(National Health Service)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... The inquiry into the death of David Bennett, the African-Caribbean man diagnosed with schizophrenia who died after being restrained by health staff, is right to call for a national director for mental health and ethnicity. It would send a...

book reviews.(Book Review)
February 12, 2004... The Views and Experiences of Disabled Children and Their Siblings: A Positive View Clare Connors and Kirsten Stalker, Jessica Kingsley Publishers ISBN 1843101270, [pounds sterling]15.95 Parenting in Poor Environments Deborah Ghate...

Express yourself.(Writing therapy)
February 12, 2004... For people suffering from poor mental health, poetry and creative writing can offer a valuable outlet. Kate Evans explains Many of us have taken up a pen at one time or other to let rip about what is troubling us and will have felt...

should we have known?(history of job applicants)
February 12, 2004... The case of Ian Huntley has thrown the spotlight on the confusion about the handling of sensitive information or job applicants. Social work academic Terry Thomas explains The Bichard Inquiry opened its deliberations on 13 January, and...

A hard act to follow.(social service)
February 12, 2004... If Simon Rodway OBE had followed his childhood dream he may well be known for a very different reason. At the age of 14 he was determined to be an actor and dragged his father around the stage doors of London's theatres collecting autographs....

spend it ; wisely.(Money management)
February 12, 2004... Is it fair for a local authority to manage a person's finances even if it prevents them falling into debt and protects them from unscrupulous people? Katie Leason looks at the options and the detail of draft legislation to help those who...

workforce; Quality of nursery staff under scrutiny.(Social services administration)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... People with little or no experience are being attracted to nursery nursing because of the low-entry level qualification, a leading nursery provider warned last week. The low qualification meant that "unsuitable applicants" were applying to...

homelessness; 'More joint working needed at councils'.(Social services administration)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... A "sea-change" is needed in local authorities to make social services tackle the problem of homelessness alongside housing departments, Shelter has warned. Although 96 per cent of housing departments believe joint working with social...

I'll complain the ; way I want.(Social services administration)
February 12, 2004... Children's charity NCH runs many residential projects for children and young people throughout the UK. These include independent living centres for young people leaving care, a unit for young women who are pregnant or who have young babies,...

dad can't stop hoarding.
February 12, 2004... My dad is a compulsive hoarder. He collects newspapers, records - wax and vinyl - CDs, videos, reels of films, family heirlooms, magazines and theatre programmes. The volume of his junk is formidable. In rooms he has to himself rubbish is piled...

education; Inspectors highlight improved schools.(special schools)
February 12, 2004... Three-quarters of special schools were found to be better last year than in 2002 and almost a third were very good or excellent, according to education watchdog Ofsted's 2002-3 annual report for England. The report also praised the quality...

residential care; Scottish care homes to get fire checks.(elder services)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Every Scottish care home for older people is to be visited by fire prevention experts in the wake of the Uddingston nursing home fire which killed 14 residents last week. Justice minister Cathie Jamieson made the announcement to the...

young people; Care leavers shun study and work.(youth services)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Young people leaving care are forced to shun education and employment just to cope with living independently, according to a study carried out for the Home Office. The research into young care leavers as they make the transition to...

asylum seekers by clare jerrom and Amy taylor; High Court rules in favour of asylum seeker over 'degrading' treatment.
February 12, 2004... Refugee campaigners have hailed a High Court judgement as a "potential major turning point" for thousands of asylum seekers affected by section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002. Last week, Mr Justice Collins found the...

continuing care; Alzheimer's ruling reignites debate on the provision of long-term care.(Social services administration)
February 12, 2004... By upholding all the complaints made by the wife of a man with dementia, the health ombudsman shows the issue of funding care remains unresolved. Lauren Revans reports Nearly a year after the health ombudsman sent shockwaves through the...

exclusive by clare jerrom; Local authorities urged to develop extra safeguards for child prisoners.
February 12, 2004... Children in prisons should be treated by local authorities as having the same status as children in the community when child protection issues are being investigated, a new report leaked to Community Care says. A central child protection...

youth justice; Social workers to gain prison role.(social services administration)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... The Youth Justice Board is to fund council social workers to work in young offenders institutions. Jon Fayle, the board's head of policy for the secure estate, announced the move at a National Youth Advocacy Service lecture last week. ...

workforce; Training considered dispensable despite pressure for better services.(training of social care staff)
February 12, 2004... Despite receiving ring-fenced money for training social care staff, many councils are failing to do enough. In the voluntary sector the record is even worse. Sally Gillen reports When things go wrong in social services and an investigation...

youth justice; Mother demands answers on deaths.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... The mother of an 18 year old who died at Styal Prison in Cheshire has attacked the government for failing to act sooner to prevent her daughter's death and those of five other young women. Pauline Campbell's daughter Sarah Elizabeth died in...

policy; Job losses threaten work on children bill.(Manpower policy)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Job cuts at the Department for Education and Skills may run into four figures adding to fears that work on the children's bill may be endangered. Last week the government confirmed that between 600 and 800 posts would be lost by 2006 at...

disabilities; Employers unaware of act's definitions.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Myths and misconceptions about what constitutes disability need to be combated by the government, according to research released last week. The research into the knowledge and impact of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 among employers...

Autism; Boy's room request renewed on appeal.(Calderdale Council)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Calderdale Council must reconsider its refusal of a grant for a loft extension to provide an autistic child with a room of his own, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The boy was a "menace" around the house because of his condition and was...

child protection; Call for action for web abuse victims.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Children's charity Barnardo's is calling for a centre of excellence to be established to find children who have been abused and had their images distributed via the internet. The charity urges the government to provide adequate funding to...

asylum seekers; Lords' decision puts pressure on housing.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Local authorities have warned that a House of Lords ruling giving freedom of movement to asylum seekers after they have been granted asylum could have a drastic effect on councils in the South East. Asylum seekers are dispersed to cities...

asylum seekers by sally gillen and lauren revans; Government move to slash funding for minors alarms local authorities.
February 12, 2004... Councils have warned they will be left hundreds of thousands of pounds out of pocket thanks to a government decision to refuse to fully fund the care and accommodation costs of unaccompanied minors. Rules on the allocation of the [pounds...

technology; Edinburgh IT boost for child protection.(Children's services)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Edinburgh social work department is to install a [pounds sterling]15m IT system to help social workers carry out child protection work. The system has been designed to improve information-sharing between social care, health, police and...

homelessness; Benefit change may prompt rent arrears.(Homeless services)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... A change in the way housing benefit will be paid will put poorer households at a greater risk of amassing rent arrears and being evicted, homelessness charity Shelter has warned. It follows the launch of the final four pathfinder sites of...

adoption; Lack of staff points to rules 'difficulties'.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Proposed regulations requiring adoption reports to be compiled by qualified social workers will be difficult to implement given the vacancy rate in children's services, Baaf Adoption and Fostering chief executive Felicity Collier has warned....

immigration; Migrants told streets not paved with gold.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... The government is to launch an advertising campaign to deter citizens from the 10 countries which are joining the European Union in May migrating to the UK. A Home Office spokesperson said such campaigns had been used before and were...

clouds of uncertainty.(Children's services)
February 12, 2004... The government made it clear with the publication of its children's green paper Every Child Matters last September that preventive services and support for parents were central to its vision for improving the lives of children. But six months...

child protection; 'Trawling' under fire as man is released.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... The police use of "trawling" was thrown into further doubt last week when a former care worker jailed for abusing children over 20 years ago had his conviction quashed. Anver Daud Sheikh's solicitor, Mark Newby, is now calling for the...

housing; Supporting People services set for cuts.(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Service providers were bracing themselves for cuts in the Supporting People budget as Community Care went to press. A review into the cost of the government's Supporting People funding programme was announced last October after the budget...

children ; 'How can care be more child-centred?'.(bureaucracy control)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Bureaucracy within the care system must be minimised to create a better balance when working with children, according to the findings of the Blueprint project. The project, run by charities Voice for the Child in Care and the National...

casualty of war.(social services)(Iraq War, 2003)
February 12, 2004... letter from iowa, united states As Congress ploughs billions into the US campaign in Iraq, staff in the social care sector are having to face up to a future of dwindling budgets and reduced political clout, says Katherine van Wormer ...

asylum; One in five decisions wrong, says study.(Poor laws)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Many Home Office asylum decisions are incorrect which results in asylum seekers being returned to dangerous situations, according to a new report. Decisions are often based on inaccurate information about the countries asylum seekers are...

prisons; Cookham Wood concerns grow.(Prison administration)(Brief Article)
February 12, 2004... Women held at Cookham Wood prison in Rochester, Kent, have been prevented from contacting their families because of staff shortages, a report by the Prisons Inspectorate reveals. Time out of cell for association was often cancelled and...

mental health by KATIELEASON; Bennett inquiry slams 'years old' racism in mental health services.
February 12, 2004... Mental health services are still failing ethnic minorities, the independent inquiry into the death of David Bennett has concluded. Institutional racism has been present in mental health services for many years, the inquiry finds. It...

finance by sally gillen and katie leason; Hodge's 'hiccup' undermines bid to mollify Children's Fund managers.
February 12, 2004... Children's minister Margaret Hodge has been forced to apologise after describing the chaos surrounding the Children's Fund budget as a "hiccup". Hodge's gaffe last week came just days after fund programme managers learned their budgets...

trapped behi nd a label.(Mentally ill person)(Panel Discussion)
February 12, 2004... A woman diagnosed as having a "personality disorder" is not receiving the treatment her delusions suggest she needs CASE study Situation: Rosemary Jennings is 41 and lives at home with her younger brother Ronnie, 27. Rosemary...

research into practice.(siblings support group)(Social services)
February 12, 2004... Siblings of disabled children sometimes emulate a disability themselves in order to gain the reward of attention from adults, says Peter Burke Recent issues of Community Care have reported on the successes of group activities for children...

shared vision.(Social services administration)
February 12, 2004... How do you promote services for people who are hindered by a language barrier and whose visual impairments prevent them reading translated literature? Graham Hopkins finds that it can be done There is little doubt that most of the estimated...

live and let live.(Right of privacy)
February 12, 2004... The need to ensure that benefits and pensions are spent prudently risks turning social workers into morality police and denying freedom to the individual. Sally Witcher asks whether we have gone too far Have you ever spent money on...