Links from around the world of youth work and social care:
- Child on parent violence: An article in Community Care reports that Children Experiencing Loss & Trauma (CEL&T) has published an overview of the findings from a survey of parents and carers who were experiencing challenging, violent and aggressive behaviour from their children. Analyses of responses from 538 parents and carers indicate that the commonly-used definition of child on parent violence isn’t robust enough with parents and carers saying that their children were as much victims of the behaviour as the adults and other children that were often hurt or threatened.
- Looked After Children – Local Authority Factsheet: The Social Market Foundation (SMF) has published a report analysing the 2017 Ofsted inspections of local authorities in England looking at the provision of services for children in need of help and protection, children in care, and care leavers. Findings include: 36% of local authorities are classed as good; 2% are rated as outstanding; and 63% of local authorities either require improvement or are inadequate. The calculations based on these figures show that this means that 47,085 children – 65% of all looked-after children – are looked after in Local Authorities that are deemed to be falling short of a good standard. Recommendations include a Charter for looked-after children and a commitment from government to monitor the system and ensure outcomes improve. An interactive dashboard has been developed to show how services in local authorities are performing.
- The lives we want to lead: the LGA have published a green paper for adult social care and wellbeing and launched a nationwide consultation to kick-start a desperately-needed debate on how to pay for adult social care and rescue the services caring for older and disabled people from collapse.
- Now’s the Time small grants programme from the Justice and Equality Fund launches with grants of up to £25,000 available: ROSA want to amplify the voices of all the individuals and groups who are calling for an end to sexual harassment and abuse, in their workplaces and in their communities
- The relationship between family violence and youth offending: This LGA commissioned report explores evidence based approaches and interventions for breaking the cycle for young people who experience family violence and go on to be involved in youth offending.
- The cost of a child in 2018: The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has published its annual Cost of a child report calculating the costs of a child based on the minimum incomes standard (MIS) – the income that people need in order to reach a minimal socially acceptable standard of living in the UK. Findings from the report include: the minimum overall cost of a child from birth to 18 (including rent and childcare) is now £150,753 for a couple and £183,335 for a lone parent.