SALLY WILCOCK & CO Solicitors

Children Law Specialists

News and Events for Child Care Professionals

Welcome to our page for professionals working in child care. Below you will find our pick of current news in social care and law together with forthcoming events of interest.

Social Care News

Lack of guardians leaves abused children at risk

Hundreds of vulnerable and abused children have been left without proper protection because of a shortage of experienced guardians, according to official figures. Record numbers of children were subject to court protection orders over the past six months, but many do not have an independent guardian to safeguard their interests in what are life-changing proceedings.

Independent on Sunday -  2 August 2009

Children's minister Delyth Morgan has launched a consultation on new guidance designed to improve the quality of serious case reviews.

The move is part of the government's response to Lord Laming's review of child protection, which heavily criticised the quality of serious case reviews after the death of Baby P. The revised guidance will form part of the government document Working Together to Safeguard Children, and will assist local safeguarding children boards to carry out serious case reviews in a more consistent and effective way. It will explain that the primary purpose of a serious case review is to learn lessons for practice. It will also suggest that the timescale for completing a review is extended from four to six months.

Sure Start children's centres will be the subject of the next inquiry by the Children's, Schools and Families Select Committee.

The centres, first launched in 1998, have been dogged by criticism that they are failing disadvantaged and ethnic minority families. Over £6bn has already been spent on Sure Start and the government is committed to funding the centres until 2010, by which time it is hoped 3,500 centres will be built.

The inquiry will examine if those who are in most need are able to access the centres and if they are reducing child deprivation. It will also look at if they are effective value for money and if they are working well in conjunction with health services and schools. Barry Sheerman, chairman of the committee said: "We intend to examine just how effective these centres are in delivering early care and education services which are so vital, especially to the most vulnerable."

The committee is welcoming written submissions about Sure Start until October 12.

Ofsted has dropped the term "serious concerns" from its no-notice safeguarding inspection findings, after a backlash from directors of children's services (DCS).

In July 2009 CYP Now reported that inspectors had found "serious concerns" in six of the first nine councils to undergo no-notice safeguarding inspections. But the Association of Directors of Children's Services (ADCS) argued the phrase was inflammatory and did not necessarily mean a child was being put at risk. Before publishing letters containing the inspection findings Ofsted changed the term to read "areas for priority action".

True number of privately fostered children still not known

Figures revealing the number of privately fostered children still massively underestimate the true total, according to the British Association of Adoption & Fostering (BAAF).

Legal News

Six month delay to civil contract re-tendering

The Legal Services Commission (LSC) has announced that firms face a six month delay to tender for new civil legal aid contracts. Recently it has become increasingly clear that the LSC has failed to finish redrafting the contracts, resolve the issue of selection criteria for allocating contracts, or to finalise the tendering requirements in the time available. The Law Society says "We will press the LSC for more information on the re-tendering process to allow our members time to prepare".

SRA Consultation on Quality - 2nd September Deadline

The SRA have a consultation paper out called "An Agenda for Quality" which seeks "...a wide-ranging debate with users of legal services, legal professionals and other stakeholders about the best ways to maintain and improve the standard of quality of legal services provided by solicitors and the firms in which they practise."

For more information, visit: www.sra.org.uk/sra/consultations/2808.article

Events

Post-adoption contact: The way forward - 14 September 2009

Renaissance Manchester Hotel, Blackfriars Street, Manchester M3 2EQ

Public and professional views as to the desirability, or otherwise, of adopted children being able to have some form of contact with their birth families have totally changed over the last few decades. Contact in some form between adoptive families and birth families after the granting of an adoption order has become the norm rather than the exception. This has led to lively debates between and within professional remits and feelings of uncertainty for all involved. This conference will look at recent research on post-adoption contact between adoptees/adoptive families and birth families, as well as the broader issue of openness within adoptive families.

The conference will also examine the relevance of child development, attachment and identity theory, and consider post-adoption contact and openness from the perspectives of young people, adoptive families and birth families.

Chair:

Erica Amende, Director, BAAF Northern England

Speakers include:

·     Dr Beth Neil, Senior Lecturer, School of Social Work & Psychosocial Sciences, University of East Anglia

·     Dr John Simmonds, Director of Policy, Research & Development, BAAF

·     Catherine MacAskill, Independent Social Work Consultant

Workshops by:

·     Post–Adoption Centre

·     Adoption UK

·     Institute of Child Care Research (ICCR), Queens University Belfast

To view further details and to book:

http://www.baaf.org.uk/res/training/details/090914_conf.shtml