Community Care articles from May 2005

Community Care archives from May 2005

asylum seekers; Clarke hints at future work option.(Charles Clarke)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Skilled asylum seekers whose claims have failed who are unable to go home could be allowed to work while they wait to be returned, home secretary Charles Clarke said last week. Speaking in a BBC2 Newsnight debate Clarke indicated that if Labour...

mental health; UK regulator backs Prozac for children.
May 5, 2005... The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said that it was still advising health care practitioners to prescribe the anti-depressant Prozac to children despite a strong recommendation from the European Medicines Agency that it...

child protection; Baby burned to death in oven.(Mickle Green)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... A mentally ill mother admitted last week to killing her three-week-old baby by cooking him in an oven. Mickle Green suffered 90 per cent burns after he was left in the cooker at his south London home for a few minutes. His mother Cheryl Green,...

Children by Mithran Samuel; Private sector firms bid to improve North East Lincs children's services.
May 5, 2005... North East Lincolnshire Council's children's department will become the first integrated service to face private sector intervention next month, despite improvements in children's social services. Two firms have been invited to help run its...

schools; Council denies 'hitch to school' advice.(Aberdeenshire)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... A berdeenshire Council has rejected the suggestion that it told an eight-year-old pupil she should hitch hike to school because she is not entitled to free transport. Mother Michelle Pennells says the council suggested her daughter Heidi got a...

A hard-hearted system.
May 5, 2005... this life Salima Jivani's experiences amply demonstrate the need for change in our handling of welfare for refugees After four years of humiliating experiences at the Home Office about my refugee status, countless visits to solicitors and...

The benefits and pitfalls ; of forging your own way.
May 5, 2005... Social workers, be they employed by councils, charities or agencies, possess skills that could eventually see some work for themselves, writes Derren Hayes Becoming self-employed is an appealing option for staff in the social care arena....

If you ask me...(Wren Sidhe, a lesbian foster carer)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Wren Sidhe is a lesbian foster carer Who has had the biggest influence on you? My lovely Irish grandfather, who was born illegitimate in a workhouse and was fostered. Which health or social care professional has been most use to you?...

Supporting people by Simeon Brody; Learning difficulties services suffer most as cuts cause decommissioning.
May 5, 2005... More than two-fifths of all services decommissioned since the launch of Supporting People were for people with learning difficulties, figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have revealed. Of the 978 services decommissioned by...

Village people.
May 5, 2005... Despite government backing, care villages still stir opposition from locals. Here, David Moore tells Graham Hopkins how the Milton Keynes village got the green light Not long ago, older people's choice about where to live was either to be...

ON ; THE ; MOVE.(appointments, promotions etc.,)(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Hampshire Council has appointed JOHN COUGHLAN as director of children's services. He joins from Telford and Wrekin Council, where he was director of social care. Later this year Coughlan will become vice president of the Association of...

Book reviews.(Book Review)
May 5, 2005... THE KNOWLEDGE: HOW TO GET THE INFORMATION YOU NEED OUT OF YOUR COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS Mike Gatehouse, June Statham and Harriet Ward, University of London ISBN 0854737073, [pounds sterling]7.95 The benefit of any electronic...

Refugees reunited.
May 5, 2005... To return an abandoned baby to his parents, who are refugees in Denmark, could risk his life as UK doctors say he urgently needs a liver transplant. Why then did Rita Mooney (left) think this was the best course of action?...

The Simon Heng column A service user's view of social care.(Column)
May 5, 2005... Although I am a firm believer in the social model of disability - the notion that people are disabled by societal attitudes rather than their medical diagnoses - I have always thought it had its limitations, just as I do, as an individual. No...

WHY I LOVE MY JOB.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Julia Young is a children's services practitioner at the NSPCC's Almond Tree project at Catterick garrison, an army base in North Yorkshire People serving in the military can be separated from their partners and families for long spells -...

A false division.
May 5, 2005... Chapter 12 of the recently published adult green paper, Independence, Well-being and Choice, professes to recognise the "important role" played by the voluntary sector in building the strong communities necessary for the care and support of...

Asylum seekers; Woman avoids jail after attack on child.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... An asylum seeker who tried to suffocate an eight-year-old boy in a bin liner was spared jail last week because of her mental health problems. Snaresbrook Crown Court, Essex, heard how Dina Lihacheva, 36, a Russian national, had bound the...

Asylum seekers; Call for action on child detention.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... A UK-wide approach to ending the detention of asylum seeking children is needed, Scottish children's commissioner Kathleen Marshall has said. Marshall, marking the first anniversary of her post, said she would make the issue one of the themes...

Child protection; Paediatrician claims she was overworked.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... A paediatrician facing allegations that she exaggerated accounts of child sex abuse told health bosses she faced a "gigantic" backlog of work, a medical tribunal heard this week. Dr Camille De San Lazaro was forced to change bed sheets and...

Children; Charity opts for intensive fostering.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Charity NCH is piloting an intensive fostering scheme for young offenders aged between 10 and 17. Support workers will address educational needs and family ties, and individual programme supervisors will oversee the child's progress. The...

Children ; Children in care still behind in education.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The educational attainment of looked-after children improved by 3 per cent last year but still lies far behind the national average, according to figures. Four out of 10 of the 45,000 children in care in 2004 obtained five GCSEs or more. But...

Disability; Welsh scrap means test for adaptations.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Disability groups in Wales have welcomed the Welsh assembly's decision to scrap the means test that stopped some disabled children from receiving free adaptations to their homes. The move, recommended by a review of the disability facilities...

Exclusive by community care reporters; Social services professionals start to pick up new children's director jobs.
May 5, 2005... Social services chiefs are increasing their share of children's services directors jobs as councils open posts up to competition, a Community Care survey has revealed. A poll of 116 of England's 150 social services departments finds that a...

Family court; Union wants action on large workloads.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Probation union Napo may go into dispute with the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service over workloads. Napo wants to see more managers appointed to ease workloads, and has included this aim in its recent annual pay claim. In...

Funding by maria ahmed; Voluntary sector sounds alarm over grant shift from social care to health.
May 5, 2005... Social care services could lose out to health under the Department of Health's grant distributions to voluntary sector groups this year, social care organisations have warned. Learning difficulties charity the Association for Real Change and 20...

Homelessness; Call for London-wide lettings.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... London councils should introduce an all-London lettings system for social housing to help tackle homelessness, a conference has been told. The move would call into question the requirement homeless people currently face to prove a "local...

Write effectively.
May 5, 2005... With reports, memos, e-mails, letters and day-to-day recording, there seems to be more and more writing within social care and precious little guidance about how to do it effectively, writes Graham Hopkins. Make no mistake, writing is a skill....

Imagine equality.(Column)
May 5, 2005... Equality of opportunity for disabled people is a laudable duty that few would disagree with. But can we really expect public bodies to have the imagination and the will to promote it, asks Peter White When the government was scrabbling...

Just like others, satanists abuse.
May 5, 2005... viewpoint It's nonsense to imagine satanism as a no-go zone for the abusers who exist in every belief system, says Valerie Sinason Suggestions that abuse within a satanist belief system does not exist have hurt and angered survivors of...

Mental health; Fall in detentions begs Bill question.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The number of people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 in England fell by almost 1,000 last year to 45,700, according to Department of Health figures. Admissions to hospitals resulting from a court or prison order rose to 1,300 - but...

Mubarek inquiry; Lawyer levels 'no remorse' accusation.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The Mubarek family barrister has accused the prison service of showing no remorse over teenager Zahid Mubarek's death - like his murderer Robert Stewart. Dexter Dias told the inquiry, on the last day of phase one of the inquiry into the...

My practice.(social worker)
May 5, 2005... His own student placement years ago has made Mark Sloman enthusiastic about his new practice assessor role About six months ago I was asked how I felt about becoming a practice assessor: "A practice what?", I recall saying. Four months...

older people; Wales feels the strain as older English people head west.
May 5, 2005... Rapidly changing demographics in parts of Wales as older people from elsewhere in the UK "migrate" may well necessitate a reshaping of care services. Derren Hayes reports Immigration is a hot topic in Wales, as it has been in many other...

prisons; Ruling may spark inquiry into suicides.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... The cases of hundreds of prisoners who have attempted suicide in custody could be investigated, following a High Court judgement last week. Mr Justice Munby ordered a public inquiry into why staff did not monitor a vulnerable prisoner, known as...

Profile.(Tim Colman)(Interview)
May 5, 2005... Tim Colman launched a crisis resolution team two years ago Name: Tim Colman. Job title: Team manager, crisis resolution team at Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust. How long in the job? Two years. Career highlight: Getting this team up and...

readers' views; Most doubt Labour's ; third-term priorities.
May 5, 2005... Only 39 per cent of visitors to Community Care's website believe that a re-elected Labour government would sufficiently prioritise social care in its third term. This week's question asks: Would support from a three-star local authority better...

Remand is a big stick too freely wielded.(high number of detainees)
May 5, 2005... Yvonne roberts Our rates of remand are out of control and people are paying an unacceptable price Mr Justice Munby has ordered a public inquiry into a suicide attempt at Pentonville that left a vulnerable remand prisoner with permanent...

residential care; Care worker killed during off-duty visit.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... A care worker was stabbed to death while visiting a hostel for the homeless. Melanie Gray, who worked part-time with children with learning difficulties, was visiting her boyfriend at the Wassand Lodge hostel in Crawley, West Sussex. Her...

sex offenders; Tougher sentence demanded by judge.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... AScottish judge has referred the case of a man who had sex with a minor to the country's High Court, after ruling he was unable to impose a harsh enough punishment. Sheriff George Kavanagh said his sentencing powers, a five-year maximum, were...

the axe is swinging.(Brief Article)
May 5, 2005... Newly released government figures on Supporting People have confirmed what everybody expected: the axe of efficiency has fallen hardest on services for people with learning difficulties. In fact, more than four hundred of the thousand or so...

What golden age?(positive outcome of youth justice reform)
May 12, 2005... Polishing up shaky memories of the pre-1990s youth justice system does children and professionals no favours, argues Rod Morgan. The reformed system is achieving positive outcomes that were beyond the scope of the old and widely discredited...

Educate to communicate.(developing literacy, language and numeracy skills of social care staff)
May 12, 2005... Staff who lack basic skills struggle to assimilate and pass on crucial information, undermining the effectiveness of services. Brenda Weston reports on a project that aims to embed essential language, literacy and numeracy skills in health and...

When will i see you again?(long term sick leave common in social care staff)
May 12, 2005... Count yourself lucky if you're off sick for only a few days - ill-health is now keeping many staff off work for months on end. Anabel Unity Sale reports on why long-term sick leave has become such a problem in social services, and what...

Homelessness; Rough sleepers get free London paper.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... A free monthly newspaper for homeless people and rough sleepers has been launched in London. The first 1,300 copies of the Pavement have been distributed in day centres and on soup runs. The editor said the paper was aimed at people who had...

Adults' services; Placement schemes failing to register.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Some councils in Wales are failing to register their adult placement schemes with regulators because the definition of a scheme is too narrow. Only 12 of 22 Welsh councils have registered schemes with the Care Standards Inspectorate Wales. The...

children by Simeon brody; Social workers press for unsuitable placements, claims foster carer poll.
May 12, 2005... Almost two-thirds of foster carers have taken children they are not approved to look after, often under pressure from social workers, according to survey results released this week. The poll of 5,000 foster carers uncovered many who had been...

disabilities; Legal challenge to care packages cuts.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... A council's attempts to cut care packages for disabled children by 25 per cent will be challenged in a collective action by the children in the High Court next week. The children are seeking a judicial review of Bury Council's decision to cut...

child protection; Glyn Martin case review concludes.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... A foster carer who abused more than 2,000 girls would not have got away with his crimes today because of more stringent recruitment and management standards, a serious case review has concluded. Glyn Martin, who was also a school governor, was...

Children by ; Pressure builds in Scotland to end detention of children in adult prisons.
May 12, 2005... Children's rights campaigners in Scotland have backed calls for an end to juvenile detention in adult prisons. It follows comments made last week by the Scottish chief inspector of prisons criticising the practice at Kilmarnock prison. Dr...

Mental health; 'First aid' will calm acute episodes.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Up to 9,000 people in Scotland are to be trained in how to help people suffering from mental illness as part of a mental health "first aid" scheme. The training programme, to be launched in June, will teach professionals such as prison staff as...

asylum seekers; Sick detainee died after help delayed.(Elmas Ozmico)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Immigration service staff refused on five occasions to call an ambulance for a seriously ill asylum seeker, it was alleged at an inquest into her death last week. Ian Macdonald QC, barrister for the family, told the inquest that at the time of...

Queen's Speech; Detention powers may be tabled.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Powers to detain asylum claimants for 24 hours while their claim is processed are likely to be included in next week's Queen's Speech, according to Westminster insiders. The measure, together with proposals to crack down on asylum abuse, are...

child protection; Climbie manager faces work ban.(Victoria Climbie)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... A social worker fired after Victoria Climbie's murder should be put back on a list of people considered unsuitable to work with children, a court has heard. Angella Mairs was sacked for gross misconduct by Haringey Council after Victoria's...

If you ask me...(Jessica Osborne)(Brief Article)(Interview)
May 12, 2005... Jessica Osborne is a young carer and is supported by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers Which health or social care professional has been most help to you? The young carer/young adult carer worker from the Selby and York carers centre....

Dance.(Corali Dance Company performs Kissed and Refrain)(Dance Review)
May 12, 2005... Corali Dance company 17 April, Southwark Park Gallery Fresh from well-received performances at the Tate Modern, the independent Corali Dance Company, which has performed in and around south London for 15 years, made its return to...

Uneasy welcome.(Mental Health (Care and Treatment) Act 2003)
May 12, 2005... the new mental health act has been delayed in scotland by the fear that the country's facilities may not be up to the job Last October, when mental health professionals met Scottish executive officials at a conference, there was a sense of...

ON ; THE ; MOVE.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Hampshire Council has appointed REA MATTOCKS (right) as director of adult social services. She joins from Merton Council in London, where she is director of community and housing. jane barker is to be chief executive of Methodist Homes...

more than a cry for help?
May 12, 2005... A girl whose father and brothers were killed in a road crash, makes an allegation of sexual abuse. How should it be handled? panel responses Joyce Msiska When Molly disclosed the information about Coombes to the police, they would have...

Pressure on for reform.
May 12, 2005... The new gallery of ministerial faces in charge of the various government departments with an interest in social care does nothing to suggest that there will be any marked changes of emphasis in Labour's third term. Its re-election with a...

domestic; policy.
May 12, 2005... Domestic violence is the underlying cause of many children's problems. Graham Hopkins reports on one partnership's effort to shift thinking on it There really is no place like home. Sadly, it is in the home that one in four women will...

Voluntary sector in Scotland losing out to councils on pay.
May 12, 2005... Scottish charities are taking on a greater role in social care but are finding it tough to compete with the statutory sector for staff, writes Derren Hayes Scottish charities will have to sell the wider benefits of being a voluntary sector...

The sting in the tail.(tax credit system)
May 12, 2005... welfare rights The new salary sacrifice scheme could leave lower-paid staff worse off than ever, warns Gary Vaux The benefits and tax credit system can come up with some strange results, but I've rarely come across anything as bizarre as...

adult services; Voluntary sector ponders green paper fault lines.
May 12, 2005... Determined to expand adult services, empower users and focus on prevention, the government cannot succeed without involving the voluntary sector. But, as Mithran Samuel reports, there are obstacles to constructive engagement between the...

child protection; 'Plot to drown girl' thought to be witch.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... An aunt put her 10-year-old niece into a laundry bag to drown her after becoming convinced the girl was a witch, the Old Bailey was told this week. The child, who fled with her aunt from Angola, was cut with a knife, beaten with a belt and had...

children by Mithran Samuel; Morris sets sights on cultural change to lift status of children's workforce.(Estelle Morris)
May 12, 2005... Former education secretary Estelle Morris this week signalled her aim to raise the status of the children's workforce. But Morris, the new chair of the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC), warned her ambition could only be realised...

criminal justice; Council investigates school teacher rape.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... ALondon council's area child protection committee is investigating the circumstances surrounding the rape of a school teacher by a 15-year-old pupil. The boy, now 16, admitted at the Old Bailey last week to raping the 28-year-old teacher at the...

disabilities; Call to add personal budgets to ratings.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Individualised budgets for disabled people should be made part of the star ratings system, disability campaigners say. The National Centre for Independent Living (NCIL) has asked the government to look at measuring independent living outcomes...

exclusive by Amy Taylor; Children's database setback as trailblazer progress remains slow.
May 12, 2005... Less than six months before the government is due to take decisions on setting up a children's database, three of the eleven information sharing and assessment trailblazers supposed to inform those decisions are yet to go live. A further three...

fostering frustrations.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... The desperate situation resulting from a national shortfall of 10,000 foster carers is making its mark. A survey by Fostering Network reveals that foster carers are being "guilt tripped" by social workers into taking children that they are not...

homelessness; Charity doubts day services' quality.(Crisis)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Many day services for homeless people have been developed on the basis of questionable assumptions, according to a report. The common assumption that homeless people are unable to hold down a tenancy because of a lack of "life skills" is "open...

make records.
May 12, 2005... When it comes to social care, the record business is not exactly glamorous, writes Graham Hopkins. For many workers, making a record comes a long way behind "live" work. They came into social care to work with people - not keyboards or pens....

job file: director of workforce development.( Malcolm Philip)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... Who's doing it? Malcolm Philip. Where? Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health. The charity works to improve quality of life for people with severe mental health problems. It carries out research, development and training to influence policy and...

mental health; Court fines trust for duty of care failure.(South West London and St George's Mental Health trust)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... A hospital trust which admitted failing in its duty of care to a nurse killed by a patient diagnosed with schizophrenia has been fined at the Old Bailey. South West London and St George's Mental Health trust was fined [pounds sterling]28,000...

older people; NHS consultation accused of age bias.(National Health Scheme)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... O lder people's charities have attacked proposed guidance for the NHS that says age discrimination in deciding treatment could be justifiable in some cases. The recommendation comes in a consultation document from the National Institute for...

unhealthy practices.
May 12, 2005... Many statutory sector staff enjoy better sick leave conditions than private sector employees, which has contributed to higher sickness rates. But this far from tells the whole story, writes Alison Taylor Thomas Telford, the 18th century...

politics by amy taylor; Social care sector has high hopes for new children's minister Hughes.
May 12, 2005... Beverley Hughes has been broadly welcomed as the new children's minister but has been warned she must listen to the social care sector. Hughes replaces Margaret Hodge, who has become minister for work. Family Rights Group chief executive Cathy...

a man for a ruck.(Colin Mackenzie)
May 12, 2005... The rugby-loving new chief of Scottish social work directors tells Derren Hayes that he has high hopes for the 21st Century Review of Scottish social work despite directors' disapproval of its initial report Colin Mackenzie, the new...

Postcode ; punishment.(antisocial behaviour orders does little to prevent crime)
May 12, 2005... Evidence is emerging that the issuing of antisocial behaviour orders bears little relation to the pattern of low-level crime in the UK. Mark Hunter reports When the early 1980s comedy show Not the Nine O'Clock News ran a sketch about a...

readers' views; Voters split over plan to help council.
May 12, 2005... J ust under half of visitors to Community Care's website thought the decision to bring in the private sector to help North East Lincolnshire Council would help improve its performance. This week's question asks: Will Beverley Hughes be an...

residential care; Ageing population will doom strategy.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... The expected explosion in the number of older people will doom government attempts to cut demand for residential care by investing in prevention, it is feared. That is the verdict of charity Friends of the Elderly, which provides residential...

sex offenders; Churches face new paedophile risk.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... C hildren attending church are at increasing risk from paedophiles converting to Christianity, a child protection charity warned this week. The Churches Child Protection Advisory Service (CCPAS) said that five churches a week were asking for...

loan with a mean streak.
May 12, 2005... Poorly administered and fundamentally unfair, the Social Fund is not making much of a contribution to poverty targets. So why doesn't the government replace it, asks Neil Bateman The discretionary Social Fund was implemented in 1988. It...

A danger to everyone.(voilent behaviour of children)
May 12, 2005... this life What will it take for my social worker to recognise my adopted son's violence, asks Christina Wood The dictionary definition of the word violence is "the use of physical force, usually intended to cause injury or destruction."...

training; New qualification for centre leaders.(National College for School Leadership)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2005... The first professional qualification for leaders and deputy leaders of children's centres is to be introduced nationally. More than 400 fully funded places will be available on the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre...