Community Care articles from September 2003

Community Care archives from September 2003

objections overruled.
September 4, 2003... An older man is determined to remain in a dilapidated flat and his friends all back him, despite the growing risk to his health. But for social worker Caroline Luckham (pictured) and colleague, the status quo was not an option. Graham Hopkins...

defining moments.
September 4, 2003... Being a developing and dynamic language it is inevitable that some English word combinations will have more than one meaning, especially when we reduce them to initials: does LSC mean the Learning and Skills Council or the Legal Services...

vital step toward better services.
September 4, 2003... The waiting is almost over and the children's green paper will soon be out. What should we be looking for in assessing whether it will deliver real and lasting improvements to children's lives and services? First, it will be important to...

book reviews.(Book Review)
September 4, 2003... Ruth Sinclair on helping parents who misuse substances and Des Kelly on a standards manual for care home staff Parental Substance Misuse and Child Welfare Bryanna Kroll and Andy Taylor, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, ISBN 85302791X,...

research into practice.
September 4, 2003... Bernard Moss looks at recent research into the struggle to involve service users in the planning and delivery of voluntary services Service user involvement goes to the very heart of service provision as those who are involved in planning...

death by bad habits.
September 4, 2003... The high suicide rate among men in the UK has often been linked to economic change and the end of "jobs for life", but there are other, simpler, explanations for the gender split, suggests Melissa Benn Suicide is such an intensely private...

development area.
September 4, 2003... Building on and improving what you have should be more than just papering over the cracks. John Belcher, John Burton and Kathryn Stone offer some practical DIY tips for staff development Technological advances and shifting client and...

Fifties school series rings bells in reality.
September 4, 2003... peter beresford A reality TV show has managed to stimulate the debate over the direction of education policy And so another year's silly season stories about school exam results has passed. Now the nation's best can look forward to...

High court rules right.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The High Court has ruled that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children living in this country are covered by the Leaving Care Act 2000 as are all other children here. And quite right too. Many of these young people have experienced...

up in the air.
September 4, 2003... The child protection register could be on the way out but in other fields registers have been proposed as new solutions. Can they serve a useful purpose?Natalie Valios investigates Phasing out the child protection register is one proposal...

it's a dog's life ; for providers.
September 4, 2003... Councils' obsession with savings when putting services out to competitive tender is proving highly expensive, and detrimental to service providers' aspirations of partnership working, writes Steve Inch, head of New Support Options P utting...

tools that dig; deeper.
September 4, 2003... New methods of assessing families are going beyond surface appearances to identify their real strengths and weaknesses, writes Cheshire Council's Bill Joyce Good social work practice is at the core of ensuring best outcomes for children...

why do so many men end it all?
September 4, 2003... More men than women commit suicide and often in violent circumstances. Anabel Unity Sale looks at the reasons for this anomaly and whether appropriate services for men are available More men kill themselves than die in car crashes....

older people by Natasha salari; Heatwave deaths prompt call for summer weather risk programmes.
September 4, 2003... The number of deaths during the summer heatwave has been a "wake-up call" for social services departments, directors admitted this week. The Office for National Statistics said there were 907 more deaths in Britain in the week to 15 August...

asylum seekers; Government defies protests in bid to uphold section 55 of Asylum Act.
September 4, 2003... Despite concern that new asylum laws run counter to policies on homelessness and contravene human rights, the government is pushing ahead. Clare Jerrom reports The government's challenge last week to July's High Court ruling that new...

independence charade.
September 4, 2003... I am 42. I used to live in a long-stay hospital and then spent 14 years in a hostel for people with learning difficulties. After that social services put me in a house with another woman with learning difficulties, feeling that I was now...

child protection; Rhondda unit to test green paper ideas.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... AWelsh council's plans to set up a multi-agency child protection unit looks set to test out some of the ideas expected to appear in the children's green paper. Rhondda Cynon Taf Council aims to set up a community safety unit combining the...

schools; 'Special medical care is satisfactory'.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Two-thirds of local education authorities offer pupils with special medical needs satisfactory provision, says a report from the Office for Standards in Education. The report says that in the best cases this includes adolescent psychiatric...

youth justice; 'Meet the victim' scheme is launched.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Glasgow Council last week launched the first restorative justice scheme in Scotland designed to tackle youth crime. Backed by Scottish executive funding of nearly [pounds sterling]1m over two years, the initiative will ensure that 500...

drugs; Scottish executive to review services.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... A review of treatment and rehabilitation programmes has been started by the Scottish executive in a bid to tackle the country's growing drugs problems. The review aims to improve the access to, and availability of, community-based and...

performance; Walsall services on the up, says report.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Improvements in social services are helping to turn around poorly performing Walsall Council. A recent inspection of the west midlands council by the Audit Commission found things had improved "dramatically" since a damning joint review...

social inclusion; Deprivation index may be broadened.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... In deciding whether an area should be classified as deprived the government should consider the number of children in the area who are on the child protection register. This is one of the suggestions the government received during the...

homelessness; Shelter slams poor quality of statistics.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Poor and incomplete recording of homelessness figures could have serious planning implications for councils and the government, warns a report by the charity Shelter. The report highlights the gaps and inconsistencies in the collection of...

voluntary sector by Natasha Salari; Report sets out options for rescuing sector from crippling insurance costs.
September 4, 2003... The government should consider setting up its own insurance scheme to help small voluntary organisations facing huge increases in insurance premiums, says independent research posted on the Home Office's website. Another option for the...

asylum seekers; Blunkett toughens stance on criminals.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The Home Office this week extended the list of offences that would result in refugees or asylum seekers being removed from the UK. Offenders found guilty of serious offences for which they receive a sentence of up to two years will be...

drug abuse; Treatment myths deterring addicts.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Myths about treatments for drug addiction are preventing heroin and crack cocaine addicts from seeking help, a new report suggests. The report, led by the European Association for the Treatment of Addiction (Eata), says street myths about...

disabilities; School must accept wheelchair user.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... A disabled teenager will begin his sixth-form studies next week after winning a landmark injunction against a college that had refused to admit him on safety grounds. The case, backed by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), is the first...

asylum seekers; Councils fear costs hike after ruling.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... The Association of Directors of Social Services is to write to the government expressing concern after last week's High Court ruling that councils should act as corporate parents to unaccompanied asylum seeker children until they are 24. ...

children; Agencies call for national approach.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... A coalition of children's charities and local government groups has called on the government to collaborate on the creation of national standards and service outcomes for children's services following publication of the children's green paper...

older people; Study backs launch of 'granny creches'.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Companies should set up "granny creches" where their workers can leave their older relatives while they go to work, according to an influential think-tank. The report, from Demos and supported by Age Concern England, says the development...

integration by david callaghan; Question mark over integration of senior posts as Ross quits health role.
September 4, 2003... The country's first joint social services director and primary care trust chief executive role has been "dismantled" after a disagreement over whether the holder of the post should be sacked. Barking and Dagenham Council announced that...

commissioning by anabel unity sale; Staff say unsuitable care packages 'forced' on Lancashire service users.
September 4, 2003... mum acceptable standards of care, they were handling too many cases at any one time. Job satisfaction was also low: 81 per cent said they had considered leaving their job in the previous 12 months. Nearly 90 per cent said staffing levels...

joint working; Support for victims of trafficking urged.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Social services departments should play a more prominent role in dealing with the victims of human trafficking, say Green Party members of the London assembly. Its report, Silent Slavery, calls on the government to stop viewing the problem...

readers' views; Operation Ore wins marginal support.
September 4, 2003... Opinion is evenly divided on whether Operation Ore has lost credibility following the collapse of several high-profile cases. Fifty-three per cent said the police operation to trace paedophiles, who have accessed child pornography over the...

Learning difficulties; Buy bonds to build houses, survey says.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Almost seven out of 10 people would invest in bonds that were used to buy houses for people with learning difficulties, according to a new survey. The poll, commissioned by learning difficulty charity Mencap, found more than three-quarters...

workforce; Northern Ireland staff escalate action.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... Social workers in Northern Ireland are stepping up their industrial action this week in a bid to secure a pay increase. The action is to be escalated by members of the Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance who are refusing to take on new...

asylum seekers by clare jerrom; Government on target for cutting applications but appeals rise.
September 4, 2003... Asylum applications to the UK have fallen by a third in the second quarter of this year. However, the number of appeals has risen by nearly 25 per cent in the same period, Home Office figures show. From April to June, 10,585 applications...

social housing; Tenants need help with money advice.(Brief Article)
September 4, 2003... A new report from the Chartered Institute of Housing calls on social landlords to take a greater role in raising financial awareness among tenants. The government wants all benefit payments - including housing benefit - to be paid directly...

acute problems of trust.
September 4, 2003... The breakdown in relations between Barking and Dagenham Council and the local primary care trust will cause concern further afield than east London. Barking and Dagenham was the first area to appoint a joint director of social services and...

McTernan.
September 11, 2003... on Politics Lord Laming's inquiry into the murder of Victoria Climbie identified a series of service failures. In the face of such appalling events the temptation is always to tear up existing structures and start again. Hence the clamour...

why registers do not get my tick.
September 11, 2003... viewpoint A domestic violence register sounds like a good idea but what do registers really achieve, asks Terry Thomas The Home Office's consultation paper on domestic violence, published this summer, put forward several measures to better...

research into practice.
September 11, 2003... A project working with young south Asians with learning difficulties has shown how services can meet this group's needs better, says Liz Maudslay A three-year project to investigate the under-representation of young south Asian people...

local authorities; Overspend forces Ealing to cut care.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Care services in Ealing are to be cut to reduce an estimated [pounds sterling]13m council overspend. More than [pounds sterling]5m of the projected budget deficit at the London borough is due to social services overspend, caused by an...

New York state of mind.
September 11, 2003... It is late afternoon on a sweltering summer's day and the subway station is packed. People queue for tickets fanning themselves with newspapers, tube trains thunder along the tracks and commuters eager to get home crowd the platforms. ...

trade surp lus in cruelty.
September 11, 2003... Human trafficking is the world's fastest growing crime. A US government report published in 2000 estimated that about 800,000 women and children are trafficked worldwide each year. And this figure only includes cross-border trafficking....

Benefit protection.
September 11, 2003... Involving service users in the oversight and development of mental health and learning difficulties services is a basic requirement for the trusts, voluntary agencies and local authorities which provide them. With this requirement comes a duty...

direct route to freedom.
September 11, 2003... In 1992 I was a supervisor in the local hospital. I had six staff to supervise and was very happy there. I also did some charity work for Barnardo's and all my colleagues helped me raise money for the children at Barnardo's. My life was...

no excuse for child porn.
September 11, 2003... Sexual crime consultant Ray Wyre describes how some men find their use of pornography on the internet leading them into ever more dangerous territory. This presents tough dilemmas to those investigating and tackling child pornography ...

mental health; Improve workplace policies, says report.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Anew report has highlighted the lack of understanding of mental health problems in the workplace. Despite two-thirds of employees experiencing or knowing a colleague who has a mental health problem, only 2 per cent believed their line...

exclusive by clare jerrom; Child detention policy slammed as a waste of money and risk to welfare.
September 11, 2003... Nacro has branded the UK's overuse of child detention as "damaging and counterproductive" in a report on the cost to society and taxpayers of imprisoning children. The study says young offenders are often victims of abuse and neglect....

legislation by katie leason; Minister pledges new mental health bill but stops short of setting a date.
September 11, 2003... The government is to continue updating mental health legislation but is still unable to indicate when a bill will be introduced, it has been confirmed. Prisons and probation minister Paul Goggins said that although more than a year had...

education; Behaviour gurus sent into schools.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Expert behaviour and attendance consultants will be sent into secondary schools this term to help deal with unruly pupils. The [pounds sterling]75m initiative will involve consultants training senior staff in every secondary and middle...

mental health; Gays say clinicians lack understanding.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Gay men and lesbians are more likely to have consulted a mental health professional, according to a new study. The research shows that, despite similar levels of social support and quality of physical health, gay men and lesbians report...

Northern Ireland; Children of 'mixed religion' ignored.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The needs of looked-after children in Northern Ireland whose parents have different religious backgrounds are not being met. Research by the National Children's Bureau has found that children with mixed Protestant and Catholic parents were...

older people; District nurses lack training on abuse.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The Community and District Nursing Association (CDNA) is calling for mandatory training on the abuse of older people after 88 per cent of nurses revealed they had encountered forms of abuse. The research, after a survey of 5,000 senior...

trafficking; Children's views 'key to tackling slavery'.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Social workers must start engaging children who have been trafficked into the UK if they want to help solve the problem of slavery, according to a legal expert. Yaw Dua-Agyemang, a law lecturer at Lambeth College, London, said many...

asylum seekers; 'Impossible' to claim refuge in Scotland.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The government has made it "impossible" for anyone to claim asylum in Scotland, according to the Scottish Refugee Council. Immigration services have stopped the charity processing claims, citing a lack of resources and administrative...

local authorities; Council told to pay for service delays.
September 11, 2003... A council must pay [pounds sterling]500 compensation after service delays for a woman who suddenly became blind. A local government ombudsman found Stockport Council guilty of maladministration causing injustice. The woman was referred...

workforce; On-call staff win tribunal pay ruling.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Councils might have to find thousands of extra pounds to pay staff who spend time on call, following a landmark tribunal decision. Nine wardens worked a basic 37-hour week in sheltered accommodation units but were on call for another 76...

young offenders; Scots youth want updated system.
September 11, 2003... The children's hearing system is viewed as the soft option of youth justice and is in danger of being sidelined by the drive to tackle youth crime. An inquiry, by NCH Scotland, heard that lack of investment, a rise in referrals and...

green paper; Future of child protection pinned on trusts, but is the vision wide enough?
September 11, 2003... The inevitable revolution in children's services moved a step closer this week with the launch of a green paper. Janet Snell reports on what the proposals have to offer The long-awaited green paper to shake up children's services in the...

Judge selection for youth cases mooted.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Crown court judges dealing with young people will receive special training under new proposals published alongside the children's green paper. Youth Justice - The Next Steps, sets out plans to reform the youth justice system over the next...

New dawn for children's services sees creation of dedicated director posts.
September 11, 2003... Every local authority should appoint a new director of children's services to take responsibility for children's social services and education, under far-reaching proposals in the children's green paper - Every Child Matters - announced this...

New targets for children in care.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... All looked-after children will be set an individual education target by local authorities, under a new government approach to improve their achievement at school. Launched alongside the children's green paper, the Social Exclusion Unit...

Have your say on the green paper.
September 11, 2003... We would like to hear your views on the green paper. Email us at comcare.haveyoursay @rbi.co.uk and your comments will appear at www.communitycare.co.uk You can also vote at our website in our online poll: Will the green paper on...

plans hinge on harmony.
September 11, 2003... In his introduction to the children's green paper, Every Child Matters, the prime minister sums up in a few words the entire thrust of his government's policy: it is not just about reducing risk to children, but about maximising opportunities...

Victoria's parents wanted new agency.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... The parents of Victoria Climbie have expressed their disappointment at the government's failure to create a national agency for children and families. Francis and Berthe Climbie wanted to see the national agency established as part of the...

a bequest from 9/11.
September 11, 2003... Incredibly, some good may come out of the tragic events in the US two years ago, says Peter Beresford. Already there have been changes made in social work education there, with clear parallels in the UK It is almost impossible to write...

families; Court change would have adverse effect.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Vulnerable children and parents would be deprived of access to justice under plans to close down local family courts, the Law Society has warned. The Greater London Magistrates' Courts Authority's (GLMCA)plans, on which consultation ended...

asylum; Dungavel protest; calls for its closure.
September 11, 2003... The Scottish Trades Union Congress led a demonstration to call for the closure of Dungavel immigration removal centre in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, last week. The protesters were calling for an end to the enforced detention of asylum seekers...

book reviews.(Book Review)
September 11, 2003... Spreading the 'Burden'? Vaughan Robinson, Roger Anderson and Sako Musterd, The Policy Press ISBN 1861344171, [pounds sterling]22.99 Spreading the Burden comes close to providing a panacea for the multi-faceted problems of asylum....

book reviews.(Book Review)
September 11, 2003... Managing Community Practice Edited by Sarah Banks, Hugh Butcher, Paul Henderson and Jim Robertson, Policy Press, ISBN 1861343566, [pounds sterling]17.99 This fine volume is further confirmation of the growing importance of...

poverty; Problems 'still dog tax credits system'.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... D ifficulties persist with the child and working tax credits system despite government claims that it is on track, a leading anti-poverty charity says. Martin Barnes, director of the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), said that although...

child protection by Natasha SALARI; Councils' 'politically correct' policies harm black children, claim experts.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... A leading academic has criticised the Victoria Climbie Report for failing to acknowledge that "institutional racism" was a key factor in Victoria's death. Kwame Owusu-Bempah, a reader in psychology at the school of social work, University...

exclusive by derren hayes; Minister says councils should make money from bed-blocking system.
September 11, 2003... Community care minister Stephen Ladyman says he is "very confident" that councils doing a "reasonable job" of managing residential care will make a "profit" out of the delayed discharge fines system. Speaking exclusively to Community Care,...

Behind the headlines.
September 11, 2003... Our regular panel comments on a topic in the news The government's plans for more integrated working between health and social care have been dealt a blow following the dismantling of the country's first joint social services director and...

what about the truth?
September 11, 2003... Our multidisciplinary panel looks at the handling of an allegation of sexual abuse in a care home for people with learning difficulties CASE study Situation: Sunita Chauhan is a 32-year-old woman with learning difficulties who lives in...

green paper; Clarke puts onus on integration in drive to reform children's services.(Interview)
September 11, 2003... Sally Gillen talks to education secretary Charles Clarke about how bringing children's services under one departmental roof has laid the basis for greater co-operation Education secretary Charles Clarke is the first to admit that the...

carers; Family charity calls for carers' benefit.(Brief Article)
September 11, 2003... Kinship carers should be paid a state benefit to reflect the cost of bringing up a child, says a report from the Family Rights Group. The benefit should be a state entitlement and not a discretionary benefit administered by social services...

lessons of terror.
September 11, 2003... letter from USA US academic Patricia Levy draws on practical lessons from her experience in Israel to show how social and health services in the US could better respond to the threat of terrorist attack The terrorist attack on the...

Taken for a ride.
September 11, 2003... A project in south London is helping to engage young people, particularly those at risk of offending, by teaching them about motorcycle mechanics and riding bikes around racing tracks. Graham Hopkins reports BACKGROUND Scheme: Motor...

blair will be doomed without unions' help.
September 11, 2003... yvonne roberts Only a public services forum can save the prime minister from drowning in a sea of rhetoric In the early days of the Labour government when Tony could still sell himself as the man to trust, it was of course customary...

name change may end paternalism.(social service utilization)
September 18, 2003... Hannibal Lecter, the psychiatrist in The Silence of the Lambs, consumed people. For too long service users have been consumed by services. They are labelled as service users to serve the interests of professionals rather than being encouraged...

children's green paper; Would Victoria have been saved?
September 18, 2003... At the Victoria Climbie inquiry, Neil Garnham QC identified 12 missed opportunities to save her life. Community Care asked health and social care practitioners in England whether Every Child Matters could prevent such opportunities from being...