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7 November 2012 Last updated at 00:01 Share this pageEmail Print Share this page
778ShareFacebookTwitter.More children should be in care, say MPsBy Sean Coughlan
BBC News education correspondent
MPs have warned that funding pressures should not harm interventions to help vulnerable children Continue reading the main story
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More children at risk should be put into care, says a committee of MPs examining child protection in England.
They warned that too often the benefit of the doubt was given to neglectful parents who then failed to improve.
The MPs also said there was insufficient support for older children, particularly when vulnerable youngsters left the care system.
The government said any abuse was "unacceptable", adding it was "mid-way through a major reform" of the system.
The report, from the House of Commons Education Select Committee, warned that too many children were being left in circumstances of "long-term, chronic neglect".
MPs suggested that too often their parents were given multiple chances to change - at the cost of their children who were left without the support and safety they needed.
Image of care
Rather than social services being too quick to act in removing a neglected child from a family, the report found that in practice there was too much of a presumption to leave the child with the family.
These parents, who might have their own problems with alcohol or drug abuse, were too often "monitored" over many years by support agencies, rather than facing direct interventions.
Committee member, Ian Mearns, said: "There is a growing awareness that monitoring a family might not make much of a difference."
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
Whatever your view on the cuts, it is essential that the children in our society most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation are not the ones to pay the price”
End Quote
Graham Stuart
Education Select Committee
The report called for a more positive image for care services - which could offer a more positive outcome than leaving a child in a violent or destructive home setting.
With the scandals surrounding Jimmy Savile and high-profile grooming cases, there has been heightened concern about the exploitation of young people.
And the report raises concerns about a gap in provision for older children, which could leave them vulnerable to the predatory behaviour of adults.
"Care for older children is not good enough. They are let down too often, frequently ignored or not listened to, can be pushed out of care too young and insufficiently prepared and supported. This has to change," said Mr Stuart.
While better-off families might expect to continue providing support for children into their twenties and beyond - the cross-party group of MPs argued that the most vulnerable children, such as those leaving care homes, often had the least support.
"For children who are the most damaged, parenting ends much earlier," MPs reported.
Mr Mearns said that when children were "pushed out" of the care system at the age of 16 and left to look after themselves, it "shouldn't be a surprise if things go wrong".
Extending support services to look after older children would have a financial cost, the MPs recognised.
And they warned that pressures on local authorities should not be allowed to damage the capacity for early interventions in troubled families.
Delaying intervention and allowing problems to get worse would be a "false economy", said Mr Stuart.
'Major reform'
"Whatever your view on the cuts, it is essential that the children in our society most vulnerable to abuse and exploitation are not the ones to pay the price," he said.
David Simmonds, chairman of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Board, pointed to the difficult balance in deciding whether to take a child away from a family - and echoed the concerns about budget pressures.
"Ensuring the safety of vulnerable children is one of the most important jobs councils undertake and social workers face incredibly difficult decisions each and every day about when to step in and remove a child from its family.
"Councils understand the importance of early intervention to prevent problems further down the line and are seeking to invest in this.
"But as the committee rightly points out, the current financial climate means councils are being forced to take extremely tough spending decisions."
A Department for Education spokesman said: "It is unacceptable for any teenager to be abused or neglected. Children must be protected from harm whatever their age.
"As the committee notes, the government is mid-way through a major reform of the child protection system - so that each and every child gets the help they need, when they need it.
"The education committee has raised a number of important issues which need careful consideration and having considered these issues we intend to provide a full government response."
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Education Select Committee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Education Select Committee, previously the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee, is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Education and any associated public bodies.
The Children, Schools and Families Select Committee was formed after the Department for Children, Schools and Families was set up on 6 November 2007. The new department was formed after the disbanding of the former Department for Education and Skills. It works in close collaboration with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. It was renamed after the Department was renamed the Department for Education without any change in ministerial responsibilities. The current Secretary of State for Education is The Rt Hon. Michael Gove MP.
Contents
[hide] 1 Membership 1.1 Changes
2 See also
3 External links
[edit] Membership
As of 5 November 2012, the membership of the committee is as follows:
Member
Party
Constituency
Graham Stuart MP (Chair)
Conservative
Beverley and Holderness
Neil Carmichael MP
Conservative
Stroud
Alex Cunningham MP
Labour
Stockton North
Bill Esterson MP
Labour
Sefton Central
Pat Glass MP
Labour
North West Durham
Charlotte Leslie MP
Conservative
Bristol North West
Siobhain McDonagh MP
Labour
Mitcham and Morden
Ian Mearns MP
Labour
Gateshead
Chris Skidmore MP
Conservative
Kingswood
David Ward MP
Liberal Democrat
Bradford East
Craig Whittaker MP
Conservative
Calder Valley
Source: Education Committee
[edit] Changes
Occasionally, the House of Commons orders changes to the membership of select committees, as proposed by the Committee of Selection. Such changes are shown below.
Date
Outgoing Member
& Party
Constituency
→
New Member
& Party
Constituency
Source
2 November 2010
Conor Burns MP (Conservative)
Bournemouth West
→
Neil Carmichael MP (Conservative)
Stroud
Hansard
Liz Kendall MP (Labour)
Leicester West
→
Bill Esterson MP (Labour)
Sefton Central
7 November 2011
Nic Dakin MP (Labour)
Scunthorpe
→
Alex Cunningham MP (Labour)
Stockton North
Hansard
11 June 2012
Tessa Munt MP (Liberal Democrat)
Wells
→
David Ward MP (Liberal Democrat)
Bradford East
Hansard
10 September 2012
Lisa Nandy MP (Labour)
Wigan
→
Siobhain McDonagh MP (Labour)
Mitcham and Morden
Hansard
5 November 2012
Damian Hinds MP (Conservative)
East Hampshire
→
Chris Skidmore MP (Conservative)
Kingswood
Hansard
5 comments:
As one of the Pindown survivors, my view on this is that the track record of children's homes is very very poor, there are far too many paedophiles circling round vultures round children in local authority care, and a childs own natural parents are the most likely people who will be motivated enough to want to protect their child rather than some hireling.
We also have a situation where syndromes invented by American paedophile psychologists are being used every day in secret courts all over the UK to falsely label caring parents of child abuse, ie MSBP and PAS. There is a lot of money to be made in the adoption/fostering industry, and some very unsavoury people, ie COLIN TUCKER are being given a free hand in this industry.
But I do have to agree with this:
"Mr Mearns said that when children were "pushed out" of the care system at the age of 16 and left to look after themselves, it "shouldn't be a surprise if things go wrong"
I am not saying everyone involved in child protection is bad, what I am saying is that paedophiles and moneygrubbing vultures are drawn to this, just as they are drawn to the child abuse victim therapy schemes.
I have posted about my experiences of having the boot stuck into me again and again by so called therapists.
I used to wonder why God banned us from trying to see into the future. Now I realise that if I could have seen how utterly ruthless the paedo gangsters are, and how determined they are to cover their tracks, and how many times they would attack me, I think I would have given up hope right at the start. I think the Lord hides some things from us because we have to go through terrible long hard ordeals one day at a time, otherwise we would not have the stamina to endure.
" There is a lot of money to be made in the adoption/fostering industry
I totally agree.
We wanted to help children by fostering and what we found was councils recommending we go to privately run agencies, that is the councils, pay profit oriented private agencies to run the "business" that we pay them to do.
All I can say to that is Google Colin Tucker!!!
Colin Tucker, the sacked????(Birmingham City Council wont tell wether he was or just suspended) Director of Childrens Services in Birmingham, now running fostering services in the UK. And I strongly suspect this man is the Scottish Magic Circle Colin Tucker.
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