In The News | Sedation link to birth defects - Kendall House Abuse  Hundreds of girls heavily sedated in UK care homes during the 1970s and 1980s may be at risk of having children with birth defects, the BBC has found.
Radio 4's Today found 10 ex-residents of a children's home run by the Church of England in Gravesend, Kent, have had children with a birth defect.
They were given massive doses of tranquilisers and other drugs while being restrained as teenagers.
The Diocese of Rochester says it will co-operate with any future inquiry.
One childcare expert said hundreds of children may have been drugged in the care system across the UK throughout the 70s and 80s, potentially subjecting them to the same health risks as those learnt about by the BBC.
Mike Lindsay, national co-ordinator for the Children's Rights Alliance for England, said: "Using drugs to control the behaviour of children was perfectly acceptable as far as their own professional understanding at that time went."
The Kendall House home in Gravesend was run by the Church of England in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s but the site is no longer a children's home.
In a statement issued through the Church of England, the diocese said it was unable to discuss individual circumstances for legal reasons.
The Full Article | | Chief social worker quits before crucial inspection  A father branded a paedophile in a police and social services 'witch hunt' is claiming damages for being put through a 'ghastly nightmare' five years long.
The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was suddenly accused by his disturbed ex-girlfriend of abusing their three-old-daughter - and an investigation was launched.
Although the mother was later said to be suffering from Munchausen's Syndrome by proxy - in which parents fabricate afflictions for their children - her claims were treated with deadly seriousness.
A social worker, Sandra Sullivan, and a policewoman identified only as WPC Grey, carried out an 'outrageous and oppressive' interrogation of the toddler, and decided sexual abuse had definitely occurred.
And it is claimed that WPC Grey then falsely told the father, identified only as B, that medical evidence proved he had abused his daughter, known only as L. The Full Article
| | Kim Bromley-Derry says profession has felt 'under siege' since Baby P The new president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services has promised to restore morale to children's social work by highlighting its value to society and working to improve post-qualifying training.
Kim Bromley-Derry, director of children's services at Newham Council in London, told a reception yesterday to mark his election that the profession was "feeling under siege" following the Baby P case.
Public criticism
He feared recruitment and retention problems could worsen as the sting of public criticism took effect, adding: "Social workers have said to me, 'why would you want to enter this profession [in the current climate]?'."
But Bromley-Derry pledged to take action on the issue.
'Demystify social work'
Firstly, it was important to "demystify" social work by engaging with families and the media, Bromley-Derry said. The Full Article | | Brothers charged with boys attack  Two brothers have been charged with attempted murder over an incident which left one child with serious head injuries and another with knife wounds.
The boys, aged 10 and 11, were arrested after another 11-year-old boy was found with head injuries in a ravine in Edlington, Doncaster, on Sunday.
His nine-year-old friend was found bleeding from knife wounds nearby and has undergone surgery.
The boys are also charged with robbery, the Crown Prosecution Service said.
They were remanded into secure local authority care after appearing at Doncaster Youth Court and will next appear in the same court on 14 April.
The older boy wore a red England shirt and his younger brother a grey T-shirt as the charges were read to them.
Chris Hartley, head of the service's Crown Court Unit, said: "We have now authorised the police to charge a boy aged 10 and a boy aged 11.
The Full Article | | | Social worker put kids at risk A social worker has been struck off after she put children at serious risk by ignoring allegations of child abuse and domestic violence.
Joy Coles’s failure to follow up warnings by police, the NSPCC, schools and the public meant vulnerable children were needlessly left in danger for many months.
Miss Coles, a manager at Leicester City Council, failed to properly deal with 90 referrals.
She put the children of nine families at “significant risk of further harmâ€.
Today, Bob Clark, the city council’s director of children’s services, said systems were now in place to ensure Miss Coles’s “deception†could never be repeated.
A conduct hearing yesterday banned her from working as a social worker again.
It was told Miss Coles failed to take action on cases referred to her, which she was supposed to assess and allocate to staff.
George Davies, chairman of the hearing, said: “These were serious failures which left vulnerable children at significant risk and she knowingly misled managers about the numbers of cases she had not dealt with. The Full Article | | |
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'Stop Injustice Now'
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| | My adopted son came home after 23 years.. and nearly ended my marriage |  | TA reunion with a long-lost family member may seem like a cause for joy â€" but things don’t always turn out the way you planned.
When Philippa Hope found the son she’d put up for adoption 23 years earlier, it had a catastrophic impact on her marriage.
Having given up Anthony when she was just a teenager, she’d gone on to marry Rick Hope, 40.
But when Anthony found her, it almost ended their marriage.
“It wasn’t that Rick was unhappy about me finding Anthony, it was just he’d never imagined how jealous it would make him feel,†says Philippa, 47, a charity worker from Whitstable, Kent. The Full Article | | Reunited with adopted son |  | At just 19 Philippa Hope (now 47) gave her baby boy, Anthony up for adoption. 23 years later, Anthony tracked her down and they were reunited. But, all was not happy as the son she gave away almost ruined her marriage. Philippa had been too ashamed to tell her husband Rick the truth about the adoption. Rick says; "I was hurt and angry, I confronted her straight away. But I calmed down and we had a proper conversation about it and I understood why she had done it." The Full Article | | Social worker struck off | A SOCIAL worker convicted of stealing money from a mentally ill pensioner she was providing care for has been struck off by the General Social Care Council.
Martha Wright, 33, was employed by Trafford Council’s Social Services when she stole almost £5,000 from the elderly woman over a period of nine months.
She was convicted of nine counts of obtaining money by deception at Manchester Crown Court in 2007, and given 240 hours community service, and a suspended sentence.
At a hearing yesterday, the GSCC Committee said Wright had significantly abused her position of trust and had caused direct harm to a particularly vulnerable service user, who was left with virtually nothing in her bank account.
They said Wright’s behaviour was fundamentally incompatible with continuing to be a registered social worker, and that dishonesty associated with professional practice is so damaging to public confidence in social care services, removal was the only appropriate sanction.
They also said she’d clearly breached the Code of Practice all social workers sign up to when registering with the GSCC. The Full Article | | Social worker put kids at risk |
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