[{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"44224","proposer":"11707","edm":"92","session":"2012-13","title":"Forced Child Adoption","text":"That this House recognises the suffering that forced child adoptions during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s caused, which took place due to social pressures on women who had children outside of marriage; notes the unacceptable adoption and care practices of the past, such as not giving information about welfare services including housing and financial help which were available at the time and not questioning whether women putting their children up for adoption had given informed consent; further recognises the negligence of previous Governments, with regard to ensuring that the care provided for unmarried mothers was appropriate and that they and their children were not mistreated or discriminated against, resulting in many women suffering traumatising pre and post-natal experiences and children being denied contact with their birth parents; and calls on the Government to apologise in order to go some way toward helping the parents and children who were victims of these practices.","date":"2012-05-21","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"44002","proposer":"10120","edm":"2897","session":"2010-12","title":"World Social Work Day 2012","text":"That this House welcomes 20 March as World Social Work Day 2012;notes that social work is a global profession defined by the United Nations as promoting social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being; believesthat utilising theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments globally; and further believes that principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.","date":"2012-03-19","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43821","proposer":"10594","edm":"2721","session":"2010-12","title":"Fosters Care Home","text":"That this House notes with concern plans by Wokingham Borough Council to review the future of Fosters Care Home; further notes that Fosters Care Home is included in a list of council properties for sale for almost 1 million; further notes the shortage of care home placements for elderly and frail people with advanced Alzheimer's and dementia in the local community of Woodley; and calls on the Secretary of State for Health to summon the Leader of the Council to explain the lack of consultation with local residents and carers on the future of the home.","date":"2012-02-09","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43808","proposer":"10122","edm":"2708","session":"2010-12","title":"Cross Boundary Looked-After Children","text":"That this House congratulates Lancashire County Council's scrutiny committee on its report into the problems of cross boundary placements entitled Who Cares; notes that of 64,000 young people in care nationally around one-third are looked afterbythe children's services of one authority yet reside within the geographical boundaries of another; is concerned that local authorities are failing to notify other authorities that they have placed a child in their area; further notes the evidence that these young people are more likely to slip through support systems, more likely to go missing from care and education than other looked-after children and to experience poorer outcomes; believes that this report makes a major contribution to the understanding of the issues around cross boundary placements; and calls for further research to be undertaken in this area so that outcomes for all looked-after children can be improved.","date":"2012-02-08","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43699","proposer":"10428","edm":"2603","session":"2010-12","title":"Violence Against Children","text":"That this House is aware the Government has yet to commit itself to ending the practice of the physical punishment of children in the UK despite its human right obligations and progress in other countries across the world; recalls that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on the UK Government three times since 1995 to prohibit in law the physical punishment of minors, with further criticism likely later this year as part of its Periodic Review; notes that 31 states have already achieved prohibition of such punishments but that the UK remains one of only four EU countries that has failed to make some commitment in this regard; and calls on the Government to prioritise policy on this matter and in doing so deal with the noticeable absence of early years child protection in our nation.","date":"2012-01-16","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43471","proposer":"11420","edm":"2382","session":"2010-12","title":"Family Justice Review Final Report","text":"That this House regrets that the Family Justice Review resulted in a Family Justice Panel that was not representative; notes that the response to the final report from groups campaigning for change has been almost uniformly negative; further notes that it will still cost grandparents between 5,000 and 10,000 to simply ask whether they are allowed to ask a judge if they can see their grandchildren; further notes that the remoteness from reality that plagues family court decisions will remain; and calls on the Government to establish a new panel, including representation from groups that are not financially dependent upon the family justice system, to properly review the system.","date":"2011-11-07","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43185","proposer":"10415","edm":"2113","session":"2010-12","title":"Revoe Junior Youth Club Blackpool","text":"That this House congratulates the organisers and members of the Revoe Junior Youth Club in Blackpool, who in their first year of existence have got over 60 young people involved and won a North West Together Community Empowerment and Cohesion Award; recognises the work of the club's lead organisers, Julie and Colin Bascombe in energising community activities in the area, not least in launching a Fuzzy Buddy Club to promote interaction between older and young people; and commends the club as a practical and successful initiative which underlines the hard work being done by people in the Revoe area to promote community cohesion there and across Blackpool.","date":"2011-07-19","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43110","proposer":"10122","edm":"2039","session":"2010-12","title":"Make Runaways Safe Campaign","text":"That this House commends The Children's Society on the launch of their Make Runaways Safe campaign which seeks to protect every child who runs away; notes that over 100,000 children run away each year with many being forced to leave home whilst others are fleeing conflict, neglect or abuseand that over two-thirds of these are not reported missing to the police; is concerned at the serious risks these children face, exposed to violence, criminality, substance misuse and sexual exploitation on the streets; regrets that currently most children who run away do not get the help they need; calls on local authorities and agencies to make sure that these children are identified and receive advice, guidance, help and support they need to stay safe; and urges the Government to provide a national safety net for young runaways to protect them from harm.","date":"2011-07-06","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"43091","proposer":"24872","edm":"2020","session":"2010-12","title":"Closure Of Childline Office In Edinburgh","text":"That this House expresses its concern at the decision by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) to close the Edinburgh office of ChildLine at the end of August; notes that, if carried out, this will result in the redundancy of 14 staff, 100 volunteer posts and a cut of 16,000 hours of telephone, email and online chat-based counselling for those children most in need; considers that, since opening in 2008 with an injection of over 300,000 from the then Scottish Executive, ChildLine Edinburgh has provided an outstanding level of service; pays tribute to the work of the highly-skilled and trained managers, staff and volunteers from across east central Scotland and Fife, who have helped ChildLine make a difference to the lives of so many children and young people across the country in their time of need; recognises the concerns of staff and volunteers regarding these proposals; further considers that they have been both poorly informed and poorly consulted whilst acknowledging the slight increase in the consultation period timetable; believes that the loss of this talented pool of highly motivated staff and volunteers to the ChildLine service would be a serious blow to the voluntary sector in Edinburgh; and urges the NSPCC to reconsider the consequences of its decision for children who use this critical service and for the staff and volunteers who make it happen.","date":"2011-07-04","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"42904","proposer":"24919","edm":"1838","session":"2010-12","title":"Mantra Films","text":"That this House is deeply concerned that US pornography production company Mantra Films Inc is filming Girls Gone Wild in the UK, which approaches young women, many of them intoxicated, in public places, and encourages them to expose their breasts, simulate sex acts and have sex on camera in exchange for Girls Gone Wild merchandise; notes that Mantra films has been sued in the United States for filming young women in sexually provocative poses, using their images without consent and filming minors in scenes of a sexual nature; further notes that the founder of the company Joe Francis was jailed after pleading no contest to charges of child abuse and prostitution; believes that this is a form of demeaning, exploitative and casualised prostitution; and urges the Government to examine, as a a matter of urgency, how it can protect young women and halt this attempt at sensationalist entertainment.","date":"2011-05-23","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"42760","proposer":"11420","edm":"1704","session":"2010-12","title":"Family Justice Review","text":"That this House notes the report of the Family Justice Review with sadness; recognises that a report written by a panel dominated by the family justice establishment was unlikely to challenge the status quo; regrets that proposals in the report, such as trusting local authority social workers' assessments more, are likely to lead to more miscarriages of justice; further notes that nothing practical has been offered for grandparents or those parentswho lose contact with their children; believes that the proposals fail those children and parents who get a bad deal from the system; and calls for the report to be scrapped and a new review established with a balance on the review between those people who make a living from the system and those people who use the system.","date":"2011-04-04","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41958","proposer":"24966","edm":"969","session":"2010-12","title":"Commercialisation And Childhood","text":"That this House notes that childhood is a marketing opportunity worth 99 billion in the UK; is concerned about the effect on children's wellbeing of the volume and some methods of advertising of children's products; is particularly concerned about the use of sex to sell to children; welcomes Mothers' Union's Bye Buy Childhood campaign which challenges the commercialisation of childhood; recalls the Government's promise to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood; and calls upon the Government to take steps to fully prohibit sexualised media, marketing and products aimed at or easily accessible to children under 16.","date":"2010-11-08","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41788","proposer":"10611","edm":"822","session":"2010-12","title":"Croxteth Gems Young People's Centre","text":"That this House congratulates Croxteth Gems on winning the Community Matters Award for Best UK Young People's Centre of 2010; and acknowledges the fantastic work the centre does for young people in Liverpool.","date":"2010-10-13","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41683","proposer":"11963","edm":"723","session":"2010-12","title":"Chernobyl Children's Lifeline","text":"That this House applauds the work of the Chernobyl Children's Lifeline in helping children who have had their lives damaged by the Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster of 1986; is concerned that over 24 years since the disaster, the World Health Organisation estimates that 500,000 children in Belarus are currently at risk; notes that since its founding in 1991 Chernobyl Children's Lifeline has brought over 46,000 children from affected areas to theUK for recuperative breaks as well as working with local charities in these areas to provide medical equipment, medicine and support for those worst affected; therefore expresses deep concern at the recent difficulties which the charity has faced in obtaining visas for children from the UK Border Agency; further notes with disappointment that in May only eight of 19 children from the affected areas planning to visit the Isle of Wight were able to make it to the UK; expresses further concern that the charity is required to pay for visas for children visiting the UK from Ukraine; and calls on the Government to work closely with the charity to resolve these issues.","date":"2010-09-14","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41689","proposer":"24784","edm":"731","session":"2010-12","title":"Support For Young People","text":"That this House recognises that becoming a fully independent adult doesn't happen overnight and that young people need help as they make the transition from childhood to adulthood; believes that the years from 16 to 25 could be formally recognised as a specific life stage and that further work is required to see if services could support young people across this transition rather than stop at arbitrary ages; further believes that central and local government should provide leadership to ensure the better co-ordination of services at a local level for these young people; and supports Catch22's Ready or Not campaign calling for such change.","date":"2010-09-14","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41678","proposer":"10122","edm":"718","session":"2010-12","title":"Ofsted Inspections Of Children's Homes","text":"That this House notes with concern that of the 1,879 children's homes most recently inspected by Ofsted between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010, there were 108 classed as inadequate and 498 as merely satisfactory, together making up almost one third of the total; expresses disappointment that some of the country's most vulnerable children are still having to live in such poor conditions; and urges more frequent use of section 26 of the Children and Young Persons Act 2008, which allows Ofsted to issue compliance notices detailing how failures should be remedied and to cancel registrations of children's homes.","date":"2010-09-13","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41515","proposer":"10170","edm":"558","session":"2010-12","title":"Independent Social Workers And The Protection Of Children","text":"That this House views with concern the severe limitations which will be placed on the availability of independent expert witness evidence in complex family proceedings due to the arbitrary reduction in expert witness fees from October 2010; notes this will expose highly vulnerable children to unacceptable levels of additional risk and is not consistent with the Government's wider safeguarding agenda for children; deplores that the Ministry of Justice is proceeding without data on the impact on the outcomes for the children involved, the current annual spend on independent social work expert witnesses or the amount that will be saved; further notes that independent social work experts are excluded from the ongoing Ministry of Justice review of all other expert witness fees; and demands that they be included in the review and that any changes to the current arrangements await the findings of the Munro Child Protection and the Family Justice reviews.","date":"2010-07-20","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41482","proposer":"10159","edm":"529","session":"2010-12","title":"Credit Regulation And Child Pornography","text":"That this House calls upon the Government to bring forward legislative proposals to impose penalties upon credit card and debit card providers for the facilitation of the downloading of child pornography from the internet.","date":"2010-07-15","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"41193","proposer":"10258","edm":"270","session":"2010-12","title":"Cost Of Foster Care","text":"That this House welcomes the Fostering Network's report, the Cost of Foster Care, on the cost of the foster care service; notes that the total number of children in foster care is rising year on year; supports the Fostering Network's Together for Change campaign to provide foster carers with improved status, training and support; and urges the Government to give funding for children in care the highest possible priority when considering future spending commitments.","date":"2010-06-17","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"40561","proposer":"10256","edm":"942","session":"2009-10","title":"Children's Services In Leeds","text":"That this House notes with deep concern the poor performance of Leeds City Council reported in the Ofsted Report on Children's Services in May 2009; deplores the findings in subsequent reports in November and December 2009 which state that vulnerable children were being put at potential risk of significant harm owing to the high caseload of social workers; applauds the work of the Children's Minister with Leeds City Council in attempting to remedy the situation; calls on the Minister to monitor closely any improvements in order to protect vulnerable children in Leeds; and further calls on Leeds City Council to make protecting children its highest priority.","date":"2010-02-25","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"40525","proposer":"10557","edm":"916","session":"2009-10","title":"Somebody Else's Child Campaign On Private Fostering And Safeguarding Of Children","text":"That this House congratulates the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) on its excellent campaign Somebody Else's Child, running from 22 February 2010, to draw attention to private fostering, where a child who is under 16 (or under 18 if with a disability) lives with someone who is not a close relative (i.e. not a step-parent or grandparent, aunt, uncle, older brother or sister) for more than 28 days; notes the legal requirement for private fostering arrangements to be notified to the local authority where a child is living; commends the efforts by national and local government and the BAAF to increase understanding and awareness of private fostering and the importance of notification; recognises that children living in private fostering have a broad range of individual circumstances, from parents working away, parents suffering ill-health or young people who have had arguments at home or other family difficulties, and that these circumstances also include some children trafficked into the UK or within the UK for the purposes of domestic slavery or prostitution; and calls on local safeguarding children boards to continue to highlight private fostering as an important safeguarding issue.","date":"2010-02-23","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"40530","proposer":"11858","edm":"921","session":"2009-10","title":"Victoria Climbi\u00c9 Foundation","text":"That this House notes with sadness that 25 February 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Victoria Climbi\u00e9 in Haringey and that, had she lived, she would now be 18 years old; welcomes the conference being held on that date in Portcullis House by the Victoria Climbi\u00e9 Foundation; commends and congratulates it on its excellent work over the past decade, particularly the opening of the Foundation's school in the Ivory Coast and its project work to raise child protection awareness both in the UK and in Africa; and hopes that further lessons will be learnt from the tragic deaths of Victoria and other children.","date":"2010-02-23","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"40296","proposer":"11420","edm":"706","session":"2009-10","title":"Serious Incident Notifications","text":"That this House notes that the number of serious incident notifications to Ofsted involving the death of a child increased from 144 in 2008 to 186 in 2009, and is particularly concerned that the number of such notifications relating to children under one year old increased from 47 in 2008 to 75 in 2009; raises its concern that the Government has not explained this situation; and calls for the Government to initiate a public consultation as to whether the direction of travel of Government policy is making the problem worse, and whether an alternative strategy would have merit.","date":"2010-01-25","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"39733","proposer":"10222","edm":"193","session":"2009-10","title":"Services For Severely Disabled Children And Adults And Their Carers","text":"That this House wholeheartedly commends and supports the work of Michael and Henrietta Spink and the Henry Spink Foundation with regard to improving the services, and access to services, for severely disabled children, adults and their carers; has deep and profound sympathy for Henrietta and Michael Spink's personal plight as parents of two severely disabled children; sees them and the millions of other carers in the UK as quietly heroic; further supports Henrietta and Michael Spink's call, which is supported and being advocated by the Law Commission, for the creation of an independent Social Services Tribunal, which would follow the tribunal model in other sectors; further supports their call for the creation of an Ombudsman for Disability as is found in other European Union countries; further supports their call to reform local authority regulations so that local authority care assessments and support packages for children and adults become easily portable from one authority to another; further supports their campaign to encourage public and private leisure and entertainment facilities to admit the carers for severely disabled children and adults without additional charge; and calls on all relevant Government Ministers to bring forward proposals for the necessary changes in the law and regulations to enact these sensible, pragmatic, cost neutral reforms, that would genuinely improve the lives of thousands of carers for severely disabled children and adults across the UK, as soon as possible.","date":"2009-11-24","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"39258","proposer":"10014","edm":"2029","session":"2008-09","title":"Child Neglect","text":"That this House welcomes Action for Children's campaign to raise awareness of child neglect in the UK; notes that neglect is regularly failing to meet a child's basic needs from love and support to food and clothing; further notes that studies suggest up to 10 per cent. of all children in the UK are neglected, and that neglect is the biggest reason for a child to need protection; notes the findings of the recent report, Backing the Future, conducted in partnership between Action for Children and nef (the new economics foundation) that found that if Government invests in preventative and early intervention services a saving of \u00a3486 billion would be made compared with spending \u00a34 trillion to meet the cost of addressing existing social problems over a 20 year period; and calls on the Government to spend more wisely on public services that focus on prevention and early intervention to improve outcomes and end the intergenerational cycle of neglect.","date":"2009-10-13","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"39096","proposer":"10288","edm":"1875","session":"2008-09","title":"Independent Safeguarding Authority","text":"That this House supports the steps being taken by the Government to protect children and vulnerable adults; notes the establishment of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA); expresses its concern that the registration fee for the ISA will have a disproportionate impact on low-paid, female, and part-time workers; believes it is vital in the current economic climate that these groups are not financially penalised; further believes that employers should pay the registration fee for the scheme rather than it being borne by the applicant; and calls on the Government to ensure that the ISA process does not duplicate registration and costs for those already on a relevant professional register.","date":"2009-07-14","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"38971","proposer":"10968","edm":"1773","session":"2008-09","title":"Young People With Autism","text":"That this House notes the recent publication of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Autism's report on the transition from children's to adult services for young people with autism; further notes the report's conclusion that despite pockets of good practice across the UK transition services are still failing most young people with autism; recognises that these failings lead to a waste of talent, lives and money; further recognises the steps the Government has taken to address this situation; and calls on the Government to implement all the report's recommendations to improve outcomes for this vulnerable group.","date":"2009-06-29","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"38836","proposer":"10442","edm":"1651","session":"2008-09","title":"Children And Family Court Advisory Support Service","text":"That this House believes that the fundamental principles of the Children Act should inform the approach and practice of Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (CAFCASS); notes that these include the power of the court to make any order it believes necessary to ensure the child's welfare and to minimise delays in the time taken for a family court to make a final decision; reaffirms that the paramount consideration for CAFCASS should be the welfare of the child and that there should be active parliamentary oversight of the agency's important work; and recommends that the structures of CAFCASS be simplified and that additional funding should be spent on recruiting more practitioners to reduce backlogs and to allow existing workers to spend adequate time on each case.","date":"2009-06-11","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"38671","proposer":"10368","edm":"1502","session":"2008-09","title":"Care Proceedings","text":"That this House is gravely concerned that there is an acute shortage of experienced social workers in most inner-city local authorities and that the majority of practitioners are underpaid and overworked; notes that according to information received by the Trade Union and Professional Association for Family Court and Probation Staff 51 out of 121 social workers in Haringey were temporary agency staff; and therefore urges that in the best interest of children the Government ensures that sufficient funds are available to allow social workers and the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service to carry out their tasks efficiently and effectively.","date":"2009-05-15","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"38654","proposer":"10371","edm":"1483","session":"2008-09","title":"Foster Care Fortnight","text":"That this House welcomes Foster Care Fortnight which aims to boost the recruitment of foster carers to fill the estimated existing shortage of 10,000 carers without whom many children would have to be placed in less appropriate and more costly alternatives; recognises the importance of the professional contribution of foster carers to the care of looked-after children; is concerned that more needs to be done to attract carers on a long-term basis; and welcomes the events taking place across the UK to promote and encourage caring which changes lives, both those of children and their carers.","date":"2009-05-13","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"38656","proposer":"10371","edm":"1485","session":"2008-09","title":"Children In Care","text":"That this House congratulates Channel 4 on its Forgotten Children series exploring the issues facing children in care; welcomes its work in increasing public awareness of the challenges faced by professionals and children working in the care system; and wishes to encourage public discussion on the future of the care system.","date":"2009-05-13","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"38040","proposer":"11420","edm":"958","session":"2008-09","title":"Adoption Performance Indicator Paf C23","text":"That this House notes that the Government abolished the adoption target BV163 in April 2008; considers that the Government should have abolished PAF C23 at the same time, a performance indicator that has the same definition; is concerned that Ofsted continues to put pressure on local authorities to increase the number of adoptions; recognises that the only significant way in which this can be done is to increase the adoptions of babies and toddlers; notes that the disparity between Scotland and England in respect of this issue is blatant; and calls on the Department for Children, Schools and Families to stop pressurising local authorities through Ofsted to increase adoptions and to abolish the performance indicator PAF C23.","date":"2009-03-03","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"37465","proposer":"10014","edm":"442","session":"2008-09","title":"Action For Children As Long As It Takes Campaign","text":"That this House supports Action for Children's campaign to highlight the importance of providing support to vulnerable six to 13 year olds; acknowledges the significance of the years of middle childhood as a key time in a child's development; recognises that all children need at least one trusted adult who is there for them for as long as it takes, especially at times of transition; calls for a cross-party 21-year vision for children and young people to be established in each nation of the UK, describing both how public services and public bodies which influence or regulate the commercial sector will work together to ensure children receive the support they need at all key stages and transitions in their lives; further calls for agencies and professionals working with children and families to do more to recognise and safeguard the vital role of continuity, commitment and relationships built on trust in children's lives; and further calls on governments and media across the UK to begin a responsible debate on the way our young people are perceived and highlight young people's contribution to communities.","date":"2009-01-14","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"37031","proposer":"11420","edm":"39","session":"2008-09","title":"Inquiry Into Child Protection System","text":"That this House is saddened by recent reports of abuse of children; recognises that the system is failing badly by both failing to intervene where it should and intervening where it should not; and calls for a wide ranging public inquiry into the system as a whole including the way in which victims are from time to time punished, the operation of the integrated children's system, the activities of the Department for Children, Schools and Families in acting to prevent hon. Members obtaining adequate information and the operation of the judicial system.","date":"2008-12-03","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"37045","proposer":"11641","edm":"53","session":"2008-09","title":"Public Inquiry Into Child Protection In Haringey","text":"That this House deeply regrets the death of Baby P; welcomes the action of the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families to date; believes that many questions remain unanswered; and demands a full independent public inquiry to restore confidence in child protection in Haringey.","date":"2008-12-03","status":"o"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36907","proposer":"11420","edm":"2499","session":"2007-08","title":"INDEPENDENT INQUIRY INTO THE INTEGRATED CHILDREN'S SYSTEM","text":"That this House calls for an independent inquiry on whether the Integrated Children's System assists or hinders child protection and on what the effects of the other changes introduced since the Laming report have been; and further calls on the Department for Children, Schools and Families to reveal the national list of Serious Case Reviews in an anonymised form for independent audit.","date":"2008-11-13","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36894","proposer":"11641","edm":"2487","session":"2007-08","title":"INDEPENDENT INQUIRY OF HARINGEY COUNCIL'S CHILD SERVICE","text":"That this House welcomes the Government's announcement of an independent review of child protection services across the country; and calls for a separate independent public inquiry of Haringey Council's child protection services in order to restore confidence in the child protection system in this borough.","date":"2008-11-12","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36837","proposer":"10371","edm":"2437","session":"2007-08","title":"National Adoption Week","text":"That this House supports National Adoption Week, which runs from 10th to 16th November 2008, organised by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF); congratulates the BAAF on the excellent work it carries out to promote and support adoption in the United Kingdom; believes that adoption with a loving family provides vulnerable children who cannot live with their birth parents a much better chance of continuity and stability of care when all efforts to keep the child with his or her birth parents or extended family have been exhausted; is concerned about recent figures showing a decline in the number of children successfully adopted; and urges the Government and local authorities to do all they can to promote more families coming forward to offer adoptive placements.","date":"2008-11-06","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36764","proposer":"11473","edm":"2377","session":"2007-08","title":"Custodial Sentences And Short-Term Care Of Dependents","text":"That this House notes that there is no process in place to safeguard the short-term care of dependent children and vulnerable adults in the immediate aftermath of the handing out of custodial sentences to single parents and carers; further notes that this adds to the considerable disruption and distress already experienced by dependents as a consequence of such custodial sentences; considers that it is not the purpose of the criminal justice system to penalise dependents; and therefore calls on the Government to ensure that, in court cases involving single parents and carers, an appointed individual is responsible for taking the necessary details and ensuring that contact can be made and arrangements for care established as soon as possible.","date":"2008-10-29","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36457","proposer":"10436","edm":"2110","session":"2007-08","title":"Enquiry Into Child Abuse In Jersey","text":"That this House, concerned at the increasing revelations of decades of concealed and persistent physical and sexual abuse of vulnerable children in Jersey revelations, lacks confidence in the ability of the island's authorities to deal with the issues with sufficient independence and rigour because of the scale and the long history of the problem, the absence of any separation of powers in such a small intimate polity, the deeply conflicted state of judicial and political institutions, the lack of an independent prosecution service, and of independent charging power for the police, and the prevailing desire on the part of the Jersey elites to sweep scandal and abuse under the carpet to preserve their reputation; and therefore urges the Minister of Constitutional Affairs to use his power to ensure the rule of law, good administration of justice and good governance in the island by urgently appointing mainland prosecutors and judges to deal with all legal matters arising from the child abuse disaster, and appointing a mainland enquiry commission to carry out a full and independent enquiry into the shocking allegations of abuse, and the decades-long failure of the island's authorities to prevent such abuse, expose it and punish the guilty, so that the Minister can secure the protection of vulnerable children in Jersey and ensure that nothing like this happens again.","date":"2008-07-21","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36157","proposer":"10288","edm":"1848","session":"2007-08","title":"Proposals To Help Families At Risk","text":"That this House welcomes the publication of Think Family - Improving the Life Chances of Families at Risk, which sets out plans to improve the life chances of families at risk and helps to break the cycle of disadvantage; believes that, if implemented, its recommendations would greatly enhance the life experience of families referred to the family courts; is concerned however at the lack of resource and funding commitments; and urges the Government to publish a timetable for implementation as soon as possible.","date":"2008-06-19","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"36127","proposer":"10288","edm":"1823","session":"2007-08","title":"CAFCASS' BUDGET","text":"That this House welcomes the increase in CAFCASS' budget in the next financial year; is concerned that the additional money should not be used on increases in bureaucracy, consultants or tiers of management; and therefore urges that the money be used to fund frontline services in order to ensure a high quality of services for children and families.","date":"2008-06-17","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35939","proposer":"11420","edm":"1657","session":"2007-08","title":"Accountability In Child Protection","text":"That this House notes that there is widespread concern about the lack of accountability in child protection and public family law; further notes that the single expert system operating in the family division gives rise to concerns that parents and their solicitors are prevented from consulting experts about their cases leading potentially to miscarriages of justice; and believes that the Government should use the opportunity of the Children and Young Persons Bill to introduce amendments to ameliorate these difficulties.","date":"2008-06-02","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35686","proposer":"10116","edm":"1427","session":"2007-08","title":"Health Funding For Disabled Children","text":"That this House welcomes the commitments in the cross-government review of services for disabled children Aiming High for Disabled Children: Better Support for Families to improve the quality of services for disabled children with complex health, mobility and palliative care needs; notes that, further to the review, the NHS Operating Framework for 2008-09 establishes disabled children as one of only four local priority groups for primary care trusts; commends the work of Every Disabled Child Matters, the Association for Children's Palliative Care, the Association of Children's Hospices and Whizz-Kidz in raising awareness of the challenges faced by disabled children and their families in accessing the health services they need; and calls on the Government to quantify the NHS funding for 2008 to 2011 allocated to improve the provision of short breaks for disabled children, children's palliative care services, community equipment for disabled children and wheelchair services for disabled children.","date":"2008-04-25","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35679","proposer":"11420","edm":"1413A1","session":"2007-08","title":"Support For Young People In Care In Transition To Adult Life","text":"at end add `, as long as the young person wishes this.'.","date":"2008-04-24","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35663","proposer":"10557","edm":"1413","session":"2007-08","title":"Support For Young People In Care In Transition To Adult Life","text":"That this House notes that Department for Children, Schools and Families' statistics show that very many young people in care are moved into independent living when they are 16 or 17 years of age; is concerned that in practice this means many of these vulnerable young people are not supported sufficiently to enable them to make the transition to adult living successfully; recognises that the average age at which young people in the United Kingdom leave home is 24 years; and calls on the Government to take steps to ensure that all these vulnerable young people have access to effective support, including where appropriate the opportunity to remain with their foster carers until they are 21 years of age.","date":"2008-04-23","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35516","proposer":"10116","edm":"1281","session":"2007-08","title":"Better At Home Campaign","text":"That this House welcomes the Better at Home campaign launched by WellChild and the Royal College of Nursing to bring attention to the disparity in service provision across England for children and young people with long-term complex care needs and their families; further welcomes the campaign's call for timely and effective care packages to be delivered at home for children and young people with long-term complex health care needs ensuring that their health, social care and education needs are met; and supports the call for greater financial investment in the provision of specialist children's nurses to work specifically with this group of vulnerable children and young people to bridge the gap between hospital and community services.","date":"2008-03-31","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35344","proposer":"10557","edm":"1125","session":"2007-08","title":"Young Runaways","text":"That this House welcomes the establishment by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families of a cross-departmental working group tasked with developing an action plan to improve services for young runaways, to be published in June, and to review emergency accommodation to consider how local authorities can best provide safe places and breathing spaces for young runaways, to contribute to a review of the Missing from Home and Care guidance, and to consider data collection issues to support the new national indicator on runaways; welcomes the attendance at the first meeting by the Minister for Children, Young People and Families; notes that research by the Children's Society indicates that 100,000 children each year run away or go missing from home or care, of whom 12 per cent. are running from abuse and around eight per cent. are hurt or harmed while away; further notes the content of the Safeguarding Runaway and Missing Children Bill; and calls on the Government to seek a legislative opportunity for the House to consider the Bill when it returns for a second reading on 20th June.","date":"2008-03-05","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35345","proposer":"10299","edm":"1126","session":"2007-08","title":"Advocacy For Looked-After Children","text":"That this House is concerned that looked-after children are still not routinely involved when key decisions are being made about their lives; recognises that access to professional independent advocacy empowers children to have their views taken seriously, keeps children safe, leads to better decision-making and improves children's outcomes as a result; and calls on the Government to ensure that more looked-after children have access to professional independent advocacy.","date":"2008-03-05","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35258","proposer":"11420","edm":"1059","session":"2007-08","title":"Inquiry Into Abuse In Care","text":"That this House notes with sadness the revelations from Jersey on children in care; recognises that English local authorities have placed children in Jersey; recalls that there have been numerous proven reports of abuse in care in England; endorses the call of the Care Leavers Association for a public inquiry into abuse in care; and calls for the law to be changed to ensure that children can speak out about their treatment in care in all circumstances prior to adulthood.","date":"2008-02-27","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35238","proposer":"10436","edm":"1040","session":"2007-08","title":"Child Protection In Jersey","text":"That this House commends the campaign waged by Senator Stuart Syvret in Jersey to draw attention to the long-standing problem of child abuse in the island; condemns the attacks made on him by the establishment elite which controls Jersey's political and judicial institutions, attacks which after a long period of vilification and denigration eventually saw Syvret's removal from office; regrets that his warnings are now being proved true; and urges the Lord Chancellor, as Minister responsible for the good governance of Jersey, to take steps to ensure that independent judges and prosecutors, with no prior connection with Jersey, are appointed, without delay, to deal with any criminal or civil cases which may arise from the child abuse controversies, to ensure the necessary impartiality of the judicial processes, and that there is a judicially empowered independent enquiry with an outside Chair into child abuse and the concealment of child abuse in Jersey on the grounds that the political authorities have failed to deal with the problems and are seriously compromised by their repeated failures to act properly and their publicly stated concerns to protect the reputation of the island, so that were they to undertake the wide ranging investigation required, they would, effectively, need to put themselves on trial as well.","date":"2008-02-26","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"35118","proposer":"11420","edm":"937","session":"2007-08","title":"Ofsted Report On Cafcass","text":"That this House notes with concern the report of Ofsted into CAFCASS East Midlands that determined that `overall, the quality of practitioners' work with children and families is inadequate'; further notes that Ofsted defines inadequate as `where minimum requirements are not met and little or no contribution is made to improved outcomes for children'; is concerned about the many public failings of the child protection system; and calls on the Government to have an urgent public review into how the systematic problems in child protection can be resolved.","date":"2008-02-18","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34993","proposer":"11420","edm":"827","session":"2007-08","title":"Adoption And Unintentional Sibling Marriage","text":"That this House welcomes the establishment of a drugs courts in London, which will hear cases involving expecting and new mothers; is pleased to note that the establishment of the court recognises that the removal of new born babies from mothers is not an ideal course of action; considers that mothers with epilepsy or learning difficulties should also be eligible for childcare support rather than removal of children at birth for adoption; notes that there are now groups of 14 or 15 siblings, each of which has been separately adopted and who are at risk of unintentional sibling marriage; and calls on the Government to review what further action might be taken to minimise the risk of such occurrences.","date":"2008-01-30","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34787","proposer":"10001","edm":"634","session":"2007-08","title":"Children In Immigration Detention","text":"That this House is concerned that the Government persists in detaining children and their families in immigration removal centres; notes that recent work by Save the Children, Bail for Immigration Detainees, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Legal Action for Women, Refugee Council and the Children's Commissioner of England among others have found that detention centres are not suitable places for children to live; further notes that despite these objections children continue to be held in detention centres, at times for over 28 days; believes that holding children and families who are extremely vulnerable and in need of social and psychological help contravenes a plethora of human rights principles and laws; and calls on the Government to bring an end to the appalling practice of detaining children and vulnerable people.","date":"2008-01-07","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34527","proposer":"11420","edm":"405","session":"2007-08","title":"MUNCHAUSEN'S SYNDROME BY PROXY IN NORTH EAST ENGLAND","text":"That this House notes that Fran Lyon and Marianne Key are emigrating to achieve security for a family life following false allegations of Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy by medical professionals in the North East; further notes many other cases of false allegations and misconduct by the same professionals; regrets reports of incidents of explicit triumphalism by social workers who have prevented parents seeing their children at Christmas; and calls for the law to be changed so that providing evidence of misbehaviour by professionals to regulatory bodies is never contempt of court.","date":"2007-11-27","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34480","proposer":"10754","edm":"360","session":"2007-08","title":"Child Employment","text":"That this House notes that there are over 200 pieces of legislation covering children in employment, dating back as far as 1933; recognises that part-time jobs should be an excellent way for young people to learn new skills and gain valuable experience; notes that there are wide variations in local authorities' approaches to the issuing of work permits; expresses concern that the number of children injured at work has doubled in the last four years; further notes that outdated legislation may be prohibiting some children from taking on worthwhile job opportunities; and calls for an urgent review of the current legislation and the issuing of up-to-date guidelines.","date":"2007-11-22","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34402","proposer":"13735","edm":"291","session":"2007-08","title":"Cafcass And Private Family Law","text":"That this House is concerned that under the existing operating conditions of the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service there is little or no opportunity for defendants to question evidence presented at court, the exercise of the right of appeal is made extremely difficult and the process under private family law is not open and transparent; and calls on Her Majesty's Government to do all that it can to ensure justice is done and individuals are treated as innocent until proven guilty within this closed court system as they are in all other United Kingdom courts.","date":"2007-11-15","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34306","proposer":"10295","edm":"204","session":"2007-08","title":"Nch Growing Strong Campaign","text":"That this House supports the Growing Strong campaign by NCH, the children's charity, to highlight the huge impact emotional wellbeing has on the life outcomes of children and young people; recognises the increasing importance of the link between emotional wellbeing and social mobility; believes that urgent action needs to be taken to address the emotional health of children and young people, particularly the most vulnerable; calls on central and local government to ensure that the emotional development and needs of children and young people are given a greater priority in delivery of children's services; and further believes that all organisations such as the NHS and private and voluntary organisations working with children and young people should do more to promote emotional wellbeing.","date":"2007-11-12","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34272","proposer":"11588","edm":"176","session":"2007-08","title":"Wheelchair Services For Disabled Children","text":"That this House recognises the importance of enabling all disabled children to move around independently and to enjoy the freedom to live full and active lives with families and friends; notes that there are over 70,000 children who require vital mobility equipment which meets their clinical, social and developmental needs; is concerned that many children are forced to wait over a year or are simply unable to access appropriate mobility equipment and as a result risk developmental delay; further notes that, in the long term, independent mobility enables young people to develop the skills and confidence they need to play a full role in society and become tax-paying citizens; applauds the work of the national charity Whizz-Kidz as the leading provider of paediatric wheelchairs and mobility equipment outside the NHS; and supports its work in raising awareness of the needs of disabled children across the UK, promoting independent mobility to enable those children to experience the everyday things that many able-bodied children take for granted.","date":"2007-11-08","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34214","proposer":"11420","edm":"124","session":"2007-08","title":"Local Authority Adoption Targets","text":"That this House notes that local authorities and their staff are incentivised to ensure that children are adopted; is concerned about increasing numbers of babies being taken into care, not for the safety of the infant, but because they are easy to get adopted; and calls urgently for effective scrutiny of care proceedings to stop this from happening.","date":"2007-11-07","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34215","proposer":"11420","edm":"125","session":"2007-08","title":"Breastfeeding And Babies In Care","text":"That this House believes that mothers should be encouraged to breastfeed as this is in the interests of the long-term health of babies; recognises that for newborn babies this means breastfeeding on demand; further believes that newborn babies in care should also be breastfed on demand where this does not result in any risk to the baby; and calls for the Government to introduce guidelines to ensure that facilities are provided to ensure that newborn babies can be breastfed on demand.","date":"2007-11-07","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34216","proposer":"11420","edm":"126","session":"2007-08","title":"Solicitors And The Family Court Processes","text":"That this House notes the comments of a senior social worker that meetings have been held during which solicitors acting for parents have discussed how to undermine the cases of their clients; further notes that there are many odd cases in which solicitors fail to oppose care proceedings or accept that the section 31 threshold has been met notwithstanding the opposition of their clients; recognises that reporting and obtaining the investigation of such behaviour outwith parliamentary proceedings remains a contempt of court for hon. Members; and asks the Solicitors Regulatory Authority to review the implementation of the new solicitors' code of conduct and how this relates to conflicts of interest in the Family Court.","date":"2007-11-07","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34217","proposer":"11420","edm":"127","session":"2007-08","title":"Family Courts","text":"That this House regrets the Government's proposals to retain secrecy within the family courts; believes that this secrecy permeates bad practice throughout the whole system of children services; feels that it is possible to protect the identity of the child while allowing parents to talk and seek advice publicly about their treatment in the family courts, and that professional witnesses should be uniquely identified to monitor consistency; further believes that every case should have an anonymised judgement handed to the parents that they can discuss publicly; and calls on the Government to recognise that there are very serious problems in the system that have been postponed rather than resolved by the limited proposals contained within the consultation document.","date":"2007-11-07","status":"c"},{"topic":"Children's social services","id":"34219","proposer":"11420","edm":"129","session":"2007-08","title":"Public Family Law And Solicitors","text":"That this House notes that it is common practice for a firm of solicitors to perform outsourced work for a local authority and also to represent parents when parties in cases against the same local authority; notes and is surprised that this conflict of interest is acceptable under the professional conduct rules; understands that some parents would be surprised to find that this is the case; and calls for the Law Society to require that parents be asked to confirm in writing that they recognise that the firm they are instructing is conflicted in this way as part of the client engagement process.","date":"2007-11-07","status":"c"}]