Displaying items by tag: child protection

A new bill will aim to bolster child protection by empowering local councils to intervene when home environments are deemed unsafe. This proposed legislation, unveiled by education secretary Bridget Phillipson, will end the automatic right to home-school children. It will introduce mandatory registers for children not in school and unique identifier numbers to ensure no child 'falls through the cracks’. It aims to promote collaboration between schools, police, and children’s social care to enhance safeguarding measures. This comes in the wake of Sara Sharif’s tragic murder, a high-profile case which exposed systemic failures. Her removal from school and the closure of her case after six days despite clear warnings underscore the need for reform. The bill is seen as a foundation for change, emphasising the importance of improved data-sharing to prevent children from becoming invisible in the system.

The murder of 10-year-old Sara Sharif has ignited calls for stronger safeguards for children, particularly those being home-schooled. Sara’s father and stepmother, convicted of her murder, had subjected her to two years of horrific abuse, prompting scrutiny of existing child protection measures. The government plans to introduce a Children's Wellbeing Bill, proposing safeguards like mandatory local authority consent for home-schooling children under protection plans, a child identifier system, and multi-agency safeguarding teams. Surrey County Council, which had been alerted to Sara’s welfare concerns before her death, is launching an independent review of its actions. Critics argue that current laws allowing at-risk children to be removed from school are inadequate. Keir Starmer emphasised the need for answers and better safeguards to prevent such tragedies. Proposals also include establishing a register for home-educated children and improving data-sharing between services to identify risks more effectively.

The UK's Online Safety Act, signed into law last week, introduces new rules aimed at protecting children online. Ofcom has unveiled its first draft codes of practice under the act, focusing on illegal material such as grooming content, fraud, and child sexual abuse. The rules include limiting direct messages and removing them from suggested friend lists to protect children. Tech platforms will be legally required to keep children's location data private and restrict who can send direct messages to them. Ofcom will publish more rules in the coming months, with each new code requiring parliamentary approval. The goal is to enforce the codes by the end of next year. The act also encourages the use of technology to identify illegal images of abuse and prevent their dissemination.

Amnesty International, in a new report called They Are Girls Not Mothers, found draconian abortion laws and systemic failure to tackle child sexual violence have forced girls as young as ten years old to carry out full-term pregnancies. The report focuses on sexual violence against children - specifically girls under the age of 14 - who become pregnant and are forced to carry the pregnancy to term. It also analyses the failures of the system in Paraguay to address cases of sexual violence against children and teenagers. Amnesty International said Paraguay is turning its back on girls and teenagers facing unimaginable abuses. Although on paper there is a legal framework to support survivors of sexual violence, in practice they are at the mercy of a chaotic system that does not listen to them or prioritise their well-being. Forcing someone to continue with a pregnancy, particularly when it is the result of rape, can be considered torture.

Child protection services in England do not provide enough early support, says an independent review. With council budgets squeezed over the last ten years, spending has increasingly focussed on expensive crisis services which local authorities are legally required to provide. This means that cuts to early support for vulnerable families have dwindled, causing even larger needs for investigative interventions in ‘crisis’ situations. The current system is unsustainable and failing young people. Over the last three months, the review team spoke to over 1,000 young people, families and staff working in children's services. They found a system under significant strain with an increasing number of families being investigated. Deprivation was a key factor among families needing help. Many asking for support found assessments and investigations added to their stress. The annual number of inquiries into whether a child is at risk of significant harm has risen to 201,000. But 135,000 needed no child protection plan. Concerns about risk have unnecessarily dominated workloads.