29 SEPTEMBER 2008

Canada: Conference to focus on mental health issues
Transforming mental health and mental illness services in Canada will be the theme of a daylong conference to be held Oct. 3 at the Best Western Brant Park Inn. The conference will run from 8 a. m. to 3:30 p. m. and is sponsored by the Grand Erie District School Board, the Mental Health Awareness Committee of Brant, and the Ontario Suicide Prevention Network. The day will kick off with a keynote address by Dr. Simon Davidson, chair of the Child and Youth advisory committee of the Mental Health Commission of Canada. Morning and afternoon sessions presented by psychologists and other mental health experts will focus on topics such as homeless-ness, making decisions in a mental health practice, assessing depression and suicide risk, community mental health in rural Ontario and an examination of the roots of violence.
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New Zealand CYF worker quits over suicide
A social worker has quit after a 12-year-old Northland girl in Child Youth and Family care took her own life. Krystal Repia was found dead by her 7-year-old sister a fortnight ago, a month after CYF removed her from her foster family in Kaikohe. Police are investigating a complaint laid by Krystal against a caregiver, but in the meantime the Herald on Sunday understands the CYF social worker at the centre of the controversy has resigned after being taken to task by his superiors for not responding immediately when told of the allegations. Sources close to the case say the CYF worker had doubts about the veracity of the complaint and he made a judgment call not to take the matter any further.
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California: Governor signs bill to fund major overhaul of courthouses
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed landmark legislation Friday that will rebuild California's crumbling courthouses, paving the way through bonds to fund $5 billion worth of projects statewide and helping Santa Clara County realize a decades-long vision to build a specially designed courthouse for troubled children and families. In signing the legislation authored by Senate President pro tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, the governor said in a statement that investing in California's "outdated infrastructure" is one of his highest priorities. "Improving our state's aging court facilities has been an integral part of my promise to Californians to rebuild our infrastructure and increase public safety," Schwarzenegger said. "This bill not only delivers on that promise to finance desperately needed construction projects, but it will also help create thousands of jobs for California workers." The courthouse construction bill will provide financing for construction and renovation projects throughout the state, with Santa Clara County seeking $44 million to help it complete a new family courthouse by 2013. The bill will provide funding to renovate 40 of the 68 courthouses the state says have "critical or immediate needs."
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Australia: Abuse of black kids 'not taken as seriously'
Queensland's chief coroner has accused police and other authorities of failing to take abuse against black children as seriously as whites. Queensland State Coroner Michael Barnes, inquiring into the suicide of a 12-year-old boy in January 2004, said police had failed to adequately investigate the alleged sexual abuse of his eight-year-old sister. Mr Barnes found the Kowanyama boy hanged himself in his bedroom cupboard two days after he and his two sisters had been placed in care. The inquest was told police made several seriously questionable decisions, including failing to pursue the alleged sex abuse of the girl who had a sexually transmitted disease in June 2003. Other alarming evidence included the Department of Child Safety's far northern zone director telling the court she currently had the resources to process only 60 per cent of child protection work on Cape York.
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Mentally-ill Leeds children sent to adult wards
Adult psychiatric wards in Leeds have treated 50 children, despite a warning that the practice is a "national scandal." Figures released to the Conservative party under the Freedom of Information act show that five under-16s and 45 aged 16 or 17 in the city have been cared for on adult wards in the last three years. The patients had been referred to Leeds Mental Health Teaching Trust by Leeds Primary Care Trust (PCT). Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, the Children's Commissioner for England, has criticised treatment of child mental heath patients alongside adults. Two years ago he branded it a "national scandal", adding: "It wouldn't surprise me if children leave adult wards worse than when they went in."
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Canada: Many prefer retribution to rehabilitation
For most of us, the law is simply there, an invisible, but reassuring presence like the very air we breathe. Those who lead moral lives rarely have cause to think about the "norms" by which we’ve agreed to live — that is, until something jolting occurs, and we realize not everyone respects our boundaries. There are those in our midst who ignore the rules and, consequently, become a worrisome reminder that a major justification for us codifying our values in the first place is, to all intents and purposes, quite laughable. The reality is, the law can’t keep us or our property safe. It doesn’t deter crime — if it ever did. There is only one sure thing it has always offered, and that’s retribution against those who hurt us. Increasingly, this aspect of the law is becoming important for many members of Canada’s largest demographic, the aging boomers. As people age, the more they have to lose and the greater their fear of lawbreakers. Never mind rehabilitation — punish! There were distressing reminders of this reality a few days ago, both nationally and here in Nova Scotia.
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26 SEPTEMBER 2008

Canada: Barnardo group celebrates 10th anniversary
The Hazelbrae Barnardo Home Memorial Group met Sept. 9 to elect officers for their 2009 executive and to celebrate the group's 10 anniversary. The highlight of the celebration was a skit depicting Dr. Barnardo explaining his work during an interview with The London Press in 1888. Dr. Barnardo was played by Allan Youngman while Earl Pinnington played the reporter. During the celebration, congratulations and cards were received from Barnardo executives in England; Dave Lorente, founder of Home Children Canada; and several former Barnardo social workers. A special lunch and cake were served. The executive elected for 2009 includes: Earl Pinnington, treasurer; Nancy Holbrook, secretary; Ivy Sucee, president; and Bev Bovair, Jerry Harding, Elva Kellar and Roxanne Murduff, executive members.
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Landmark Adoption Bill passed by House
Groundbreaking legislation, marking the most sweeping congressional reform of the U.S. foster care system in more than a decade, has passed the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate where it is expected to pass. The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893) is designed to help thousands of children in foster care by promoting permanent families for them through relative guardianship and adoption. Among its many provisions is the establishment of "Family Connection Grants," which will help families facilitate the adoption of foster children with blood relatives such as grandparents or aunts and uncles. The new legislation also doubles the amount of money states would receive for promoting and completing certain adoptions. For instance, any state that increases the number of adoptions of special-needs children to a record high level would eceive $4,000 per adoption, up from $2,000 currently. The same process would occur for states boosting the number of adoptions of children above the age of nine.
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Sri Lanka: Children`s march to promote peace nationwide
In the wake of continuing attacks on Christians across India, children in the predominantly Buddhist Sri Lanka are on a massive initiative targeting nationwide to build peace, harmony and good will in a country ravaged by war, violence, apathy and insecurity for over 35 years. To mark 50 years of service for youth in the island, Don Bosco Society Sri Lanka along with the Chefs Guild of Lanka are sponsoring a 100-member Buddhist children`s band from Thailand as a joint initiative with a group of progressive Buddhist monks. ``Sri Lankan children will have a rare opportunity of seeing a world-class brass band perform and also interact with them in a series of two-hour events that will coincide with the International Children`s Day,`` says the sponsor Salesian Provincial Father Anthony H. Pinto. `Marching Towards Peace with Children`` is Don Bosco`s way of contributing their mite to the country, in addition to the numerous social works, including vocational training for youth of all races and religions,`` adds the country`s Salesian Provincial.
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Pittsburgh woman named senior vice president of programs for Pressley Ridge
Susanne Cole, MA, LSW, of Pittsburgh, has been named senior vice president of programs for Pressley Ridge. In this position, Cole will be responsible for the development of all programs, as well as the organization’s marketing and communications efforts. “We are delighted to have Susanne take on this role,” said B. Scott Finnell, Ph.D., LCSW, president and CEO of Pressley Ridge. “She possesses a vast knowledge of our organization, having started here more than 18 years ago as a teacher/counselor. She is well-equipped to help lead Pressley Ridge’s efforts to expand the programs and services we provide to children and families locally, nationally and internationally.” Previously, Cole served as vice president of residential and educational services, where she oversaw the residential and educational service lines operated by Pressley Ridge. Before that, she was the executive director of Pressley Ridge’s operations in West Virginia (WV). In 1990, Cole joined Pressley Ridge as a teacher/counselor at the Grant Gardens residential program in WV and later served as the program’s director for seven years. She became deputy state director for southern WV in 2001, managing a number of residential, foster care and community-based programs. In August 2002, her responsibilities expanded to include northern WV.
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UK: Conservative plans for youth justice
While Tim Loughton, shadow minister for children, has some notionally warm words for the Children and Young Persons Bill, he thinks “not a lot” of this summer’s Youth Crime Action Plan. “We’ve had so many youth crime action plans, or differently named things. Youth justice and the plight of young people in the criminal justice system has been a disaster in the last few years. And that stems from the fact that this government has actually demonized young people.” Loughton’s views on youth justice seem more nebulous than those on the Bill – he talks of the failure of existing punitive policies, and how that is evidenced by the number of children who are locked up, little of which is going to come as news to those working in the field. But a working group has now been set up among the shadow ministers responsible for youth justice to review the whole system, including whether there will continue to be a role for the Youth Justice Board. The fact that the review will need to cover three departments itself is a source of “confusion”, according to Loughton. The results of that group will be revealed next year.
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Scotland: Big drop in number of children monitored for abuse
The number of children in Scotland being monitored by social services because of sexual abuse has dropped by one third. Statistics, released by the Scottish Government yesterday, also show an overall decrease in the number of children thought to be at risk from all kinds of neglect and physical harm. They point out that more members of the public, such as neighbours and teachers, are contacting social services with concerns over children's welfare. A total of 12,382 referrals of this kind were made this year, a rise of 4%. However, fewer children are found to be in need of social services care following initial investigation with just 35% of concerns raised going to the next stage of the child protection process, down from 38% the year before.
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Culture shapes young people's drinking
A study of drinking in seven countries says the introduction to alcohol was typically by parents during a family celebration, a British researcher says. Fiona Measham, a criminologist at Lancaster University in England and co-editor of the book Swimming with Crocodiles: The Culture of Extreme Drinking, conducted focus groups on drinking in Brazil, China, Italy, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa and Britain. Measham said young people's views on alcohol and drunkenness were influenced more by culture than by factors such as age and sex. The research on young people's drinking shows 49 percent of Swedish 17-year-olds report having been drunk, compared with around 10 percent of Italian, French and Greek youth. "We need to work to change this culture of extreme drinking, we need to look at cultures in countries like Italy and Spain where moderate drinking is an ordinary, everyday part of family life." Other striking similarities about drinking among young people in different parts of the world include: Alcohol consumption was primarily associated with enjoyment and socializing, drinking mostly took place at parties or bars and there is awareness of drinking as a means of self-medication.
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22 SEPTEMBER 2008

Pennsylvania : Most in foster care are teens
Foster care took charge of nearly 700 children between Adams and York counties in March, and a new study shows the majority of those children were teenagers. Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children released a study this month examining the state's foster-care system, which involved 19,956 children in March, as part of its Porch Light Project. The project aspires to ensure children have permanent families. Adams County had 109 children in foster care in March, including 20.2 percent ages 16 and 17 and 19.3 percent between the ages of 13 and 15, according to the study. York County had similar results, with 24.2 percent of the 583 children in foster care in March aged 16 or 17 and 21.3 percent between the ages of 13 and 15. The two counties' results also are comparable to those statewide. Pennsylvania had 19,956 children in foster care in March 2008. Of that group, 20.2 percent were ages 16 or 17 and 19.4 percent were between the ages of 13 and 15, according to the study.
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Ten thousand march in London rally against knife and gun crime
Relatives of Damilola Taylor, killed in 2000, and Ben Kinsella, stabbed to death this year, are taking part in the event, which was planned on the social networking site, Facebook. Two marches started from Kennington Park, south London, and Caledonian Park in north London. About 1,000 People joined the “Southern and Northern Branches” of the anti-knife crime march on its journey to Hyde Park. Many of the demonstrators carried banners declaring “put down the guns and knives”, “lay down the weapons”, and “Innocent children are dying.” Some placards included photographs of the young victims of knife crime. Families of the victims led the march walking behind a huge banner that said “Stop knives, Save Lives.” They included the families of Damilola Taylor, Jimmy Mizen, Rob Knox and David Idowu.
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New Zealand: Inquiry after girl dies in care
An investigation is under way after a 12-year-old girl died in Child Youth and Family care, less than a month after she was allegedly abused by a caregiver. The girl was found dead in a North Shore home by a younger sibling. Police say there were no suspicious circumstances and the case has now been referred to the coroner. But the girl's extended family are upset she was put into the care of a man who molested her and the fact it took four days for CYF to remove her once the allegations were made. The girl and her seven siblings were put into the care of a Northland family two and a-half years ago. Her father, who had supervised visits, said one of his sons accused the caregiver of hitting the children about two years ago but CYF never did anything about it. "We were always telling CYF that these caregivers were hurting our kids," he said. "They said they would go and investigate it. They came back and said we were lying and the kids were making it up."
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Wales: Number of children in care rockets
The number of Welsh children being taken into care has rocketed by 50% in the last 10 years, figures seen by Wales on Sunday reveal. A total of 4,633 children were in care in 2007/08 – compared to just 2,991 back in 1998. And the shocking figures last night prompted calls for the Government to take earlier action to protect vulnerable children – and avoid a “gung-ho” approach to taking kids into care. More than half of those in care were there because of abuse or neglect, with 13% because their family was in “acute stress”, 13% because of family dysfunction and 7% because of socially unacceptable behaviour. Other noted reasons included absent parents, parental illness and child disability.
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UK: Tributes paid to foster children champion
Foster children in Lincolnshire have lost one of their most dedicated champions following the tragic death of a respected social services officer, a meeting heard. Martin Belton (52) was killed in a road accident on the A17 at Wigtoft, near Boston, on Tuesday. He was the former head of foster services in Lincolnshire and had latterly worked as participation officer for children in care. He had worked for Lincolnshire County Council since 1985. Speaking at a full meeting of the council yesterday, Patricia Bradwell, executive member for children's services, paid tribute to Mr Belton's tireless work with vulnerable young people. "He mostly worked with children in public care and he was extremely committed to the young people and they respected him and his dedication to improving their lives," she said.
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Ireland: Conference to tackle suicide causes
The Irish Association of Suicidology annual conference is taking place in Athlone. Entitled 'Youth suicide in a changing society', the conference aims to address social and psychological pressures on today's youth as some of the reasons why young people choose to end their lives. It also draws attention to the grim effects of recent changes such as the current economic crisis and job losses. A National Strategy for Suicide Prevention will be presented. Statistics published last week indicate that Ireland has the fifth largest rate of youth suicide in Europe.
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UK: 'Places needed for young addicts'
England has 20 full-time programmes for under-18s, but 3,000 for adults. England has too few residential treatment centres for young drug addicts, a former top government adviser on drugs has said. Mike Trace, who was deputy to former drug tsar Keith Helliwell, said some addicts could only be treated if they were taken out of their neighbourhoods. But he said this was rarely possible because there were only 20 places available in England for under-18s. The government says community-based treatment is better for young people. Mr Trace said: "In the early stages of treatment, nobody is absolutely convinced they want to change their lifestyles, so they're always subject to temptation. "If you're living on a council estate in south London, where there's a dealer on every street corner, the chances of you continuing your treatment, complying with it, and keeping your will-power are fairly slim. "That's why residential projects are set up as they are. They tend to be well away from drug-dealing areas and keep people in the early stages of treatment quite isolated from temptation."
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19 SEPTEMBER 2008

Nova Scotia: ‘Shameful’ lack of attention to mental health services
Meeting the need for childhood and adolescent mental health services is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the IWK, CEO Anne McGuire said in her remarks Wednesday. After the meeting, she said the hospital has seen significant growth in its mental health and addictions services, with extra funding helping to create new programs. But it’s not enough, Ms. McGuire said. "The wait lists are still too long and there are still many children and youth out there who need intervention more quickly and maybe from different kinds of programs that we haven’t been able to set up yet," she said. "There’s a huge amount of work to do in mental health." Ten per cent — just under $21 million — of the hospital’s budget goes toward mental health and addictions services. Mental health spending accounts for less than four per cent of the $3.2-billion provincial health budget.
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Nebraska: Home for troubled girls to close
A little more than five years ago, a Sarpy County diversion worker told Papillion attorney Pat Sullivan about the need for a home in Sarpy County for troubled and abused girls. With three daughters himself, Sullivan said, he has "always been inclined to empowering girls and women." "So I did it,'' he said. In April 2003, Sullivan and partner Don Bellino opened Grace Cottage to serve abused, neglected and troubled girls at 517 S. Washington St. in Papillion. But after providing care for about 115 girls, Grace Cottage closed on Sept. 12. Sullivan said he and Bellino poured "tens of thousands" of dollars into the facility in an attempt to keep it open. "Almost every month we were writing checks to keep it afloat," said Sullivan, who is president of Youth First Inc., operator of Grace Cottage.
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Arkansas: Systemwide review of foster care program under way
The state Department of Human Services is conducting a comprehensive review of Arkansas' foster care program in the wake of high-profile cases involving the deaths and sexual abuse of children in the system, a DHS executive told legislators Wednesday. Agency officials appeared before lawmakers to address admitted breakdowns in the foster care system brought to light after the arrest and conviction of Brian Bergthold of a Bella Vista for molesting foster children in his care. Also, authorities are investigating the deaths this spring and summer of four children in state custody. "We're doing a top-to-bottom review of all our processes, our systems, everything that you have mentioned here today we are looking at," Assistant DHS Director Janie Huddleston told members of the House Committee on Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs and the Senate Committee on Children and Youth. The two committees met for more than three hours Wednesday to discuss ways to improve the system.
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Foster care safety probed
B.C.'s advocate for children and youth is investigating a provincial program that pays relatives to care for children after receiving reports that children are being left with families that pose a risk to their safety. Under the Children in the Home of a Relative program, relatives can apply for money for taking care of a child whose parents are unable to do so. CIHR payments range from $257 a month for children up to five years old to $454 a month for an 18-year-old. About 4,700 children in the province are being cared for by relatives under the program, which has existed for a number of years. However, in the past, no criminal background checks were required when relatives applied for funding. That changed last December, when Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, the provincial representative for children and youth, asked the government to begin doing the checks. "In one instance we have a child being left in a home where there was an individual with a record where a loaded shotgun was being kept under the child's bed and where there had been multiple calls [to the police] because of domestic disputes," she said Wednesday.
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Michigan: School for troubled teens opens
Ingham County is celebrating the opening of its new family center. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at the building's location in Lansing. The center provides services to area youth and aims to improve the juvenile justice system. The Ingham Academy is one of the first programs to be offered and is an alternative day school for non-violent youth. Judge Richard Garcia, probate judge: "These kids are going to have a place, not just to get their GED, but to graduate with a diploma, and we know that kids with diplomas are less likely to go to prison." The school will also offer an evening program which will include activities for kids who need extra services and supervision.
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Britain tightens laws for online suicide sites
The British government said it is amending its 1961 Suicide Act to make sure people are aware that Web sites promoting suicide are illegal. The move comes amid concerns that people seeking information about suicide may actually come across more sites that promote the act than those that offer support. Although illegal under the Suicide Act, there have not been any prosecutions of website owners who operate such sites. The updated law will clarify that the Act applies to online Web sites, and will assist Web service providers police the sites they host. However, Britain’s Justice Minister Maria Eagle said there was no "magic solution" to provide online protecting to the vulnerable.
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17 SEPTEMBER 2008

Canada: CAS scores high mark but 'more can be done'
Hastings Children's Aid Society staff say they are impressed with a grade given to them by the provincial government for their handling of children in its care. The Ministry of Children and Youth Services recently completed a review on the treatment of Crown wards -- children whose legal guardian is the CAS -- and gave the local agency a score of 72.8 per cent for 2008. The score is a reflection on the CAS's compliance with a lengthy list of services owed to these children to ensure they get proper care. The study was based on 206 children who have been Crown wards for at least two years. The province issued 251 recommendations, based on 139 cases. The recommendations ranged from better documentation on plans of care for the children and their social histories to additional assessments to determine whether counselling or psychiatric care was needed. While the score is down from the previous year's score of 77.5 per cent, Angus Francis, manager of child and care services, said he was not worried about the drop, as it is more a reflection of tougher standards the ministry now has for agencies.
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Helping children in care in Scotland
Three new measures to improve the educational experience of some of Scotland's most vulnerable children and young people have been launched today. Commenting that the status quo is not good enough for Scotland's looked after children, Children's Minister Adam Ingram, said these new measures go some way to making sure Scotland's 14,000 looked after children get access to the very best services and support to help them have the positive futures they deserve. The launch follows publication of These Are Our Bairns - the first document in Scotland to set out the role and responsibilities of everyone who are responsible for our looked after children earlier this month.
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Foster care stays too long, group says
Children in foster care should stay for shorter periods of time and more of them need to be placed with family members, says a children's advocacy group. Across Pennsylvania, approximately 20,000 children spend an average of 16 months in foster care after suffering abuse or neglect, according to Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. Of the children in the foster care system, almost half, 46 percent, are age 13 or older. Thirty percent are 5 or younger and 24 percent are ages 6-12."Every child deserves a forever family. No child should languish in the system without a safe, nurturing and permanent place to call home," said Joan L. Benso, president and CEO of Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children. "While there are many things broken in the current child welfare system that must be addressed, there are family strengthening, reunification and adoption strategies in play, too, that deserve mention and, hopefully, further replication across the state."
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UK: £700,000 on offer to fight youth crime rise
Bradford Council is set to claim a share of a multi-million pound fund to tackle the growing problem of youth crime. Council chiefs will be handed £700,000 over the next three years with an immediate £90,000 injection if they agree to an “intensive package” of measures which could include more after­school patrols and street­based teams. Bradford is one of 69 areas that will be given cash to be used for early intervention programmes and “tough enforcement” schemes, ministers say. The Home Office say the cash will build on excellent work already under way in different parts of the country and measures will include: l using safeguarding laws to remove young people at risk from the streets at night l street-based teams of youth workers and former gang members to tackle groups of young people involved in crime and disorder l increased visible police patrols during after-school hours l providing positive activities for young people l placing youth offending team workers in police stations so that young offenders can be dealt with and directed to the most appropriate service at the earliest opportunity.
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Ireland: Students 'unaware of alcohol abuse implications'
Third-level students appear to consume high levels of alcohol with little awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol abuse, according to a recent report by researchers at the Department of General Practice at University College Cork (UCC). The study looked at 133 UCC graduates and 115 UCC students, enquiring about their opinions on their own alcohol consumption levels and on what they considered an acceptable weekly intake of alcohol. The results reveal dramatic changes in drinking habits over recent decades, according to the researchers. Average weekly consumption of alcohol among students was 15.5 units compared to 8.1 units in the graduates surveyed. With a half-pint, a half-glass of spirits or a glass of wine equivalent to one unit, researchers found that male students drank 20.1 units per week on average while female students drank 11.6 units. Students and graduates differed dramatically too in the average ages at which they started drinking, according to the UCC report.
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Fostering Network urges councillors to be good corporate parents
Councillors across the UK are being sent postcards to remind them of their legal responsibilities for children in care, as part of a campaign launched this week. The Fostering Network's 'Do you know who your children are?' campaign is urging councillors to play a greater role in promoting children in care's well-being, as well as work more efficiently to tackle the issues that impact on their development. Councillors will be asked if children in their corporate care are getting the help they need at school, if they are in suitable accommodation and if foster carers have enough support. The charity is offering councillors the opportunity to meet with local foster carers to hear some of the challenges they face. It has also produced an information pack on how to be a good corporate parent.
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Child care training launch
A training package to help those who look after children in care has been launched by the Scottish Government. The scheme, which includes a hard-hitting DVD showing one youngster's journey through the system, is one of three new measures that aim to improve the educational experience of children in care. Children's Minister Adam Ingram said the moves would help such youngsters become "happy, successful and confident individuals with a positive future". In addition to the training package, ministers also want each educational and residential child care establishment to have a key individual who will champion the needs of children in care and ensure that services meet their needs. The Government also unveiled the final report into local pilot schemes which developed ways to improve the educational achievements of children in care.
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15 SEPTEMBER 2008

California: Expanded programs benefit kids in foster care
At any given time, about 250 children are in foster care in Humboldt County. And being in foster care usually means a child has experienced a stressful or traumatic family situation. That's why the Department of Health and Human Services is expanding its programs to make sure every child in the system gets the care he or she needs earlier. Ten more mental health case managers and three clinicians are being hired to work with Child Welfare Services social workers and public health nurses. They will create holistic plans that will address each child's health and mental health needs. ”We will be better able to support children, foster families and caregivers. It will allow DHHS to establish more permanent connections for children who need those connections most,” said Lisa Bartelson, acting deputy director for Children and Family Services.
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B.C.'s independent children's watchdog releases first annual report
Turpel-Lafond says every child in the province has the right to be healthy, safe, educated - and the right to be heard. "Advocacy means helping people speak for themselves or acting with them or on their behalf to make sure their voice is heard," said the report. The 32-page report focused primarily on the advocacy efforts of her office and staff on behalf of more than 14,500 vulnerable B.C. children and youth who were receiving government services while living outside their parent's homes in the last year. Between April 2007 and the end of March this year Turpel-Lafond's staff opened 1,190 new advocacy cases working from three regional offices in Prince George, the Lower Mainland and Victoria.
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Hartford: Curfew is one tool in cutting violence
No matter what side of the curfew debate you are on, there is no denying its positive effect in Hartford, which is why the city will extend it for another 30 days. Since enforcement of the curfew — which requires anyone 18 and younger to be off the streets between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. — began Aug. 14, there has been only one shooting incident involving a juvenile during those hours. Because of the curfew, the Hartford Police Department has issued 119 written warnings, five juvenile summonses, five misdemeanor summonses and served two take into custody warrants. Ten of the curfew violators were from nearby towns and were taken home by police. Make no mistake — a curfew is not a panacea. The curfew is merely a tool among many preventive measures we have used over the past month to curb gun-related violence among our youth. Statistics gathered before and after the application of all our initiatives show improvement upon which we will build.
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Alabama: Birmingham foster case social worker of year is a man
Growing up in Mobile, Vic-Jaye Watson would sometimes run with the wrong crowd and take the wrong path. Many of his friends and relatives never left that path and ended up in prison or dead. Watson ended up in college, studying law enforcement and social work. Today, those experiences from his youth are never far from his mind as he works with foster children in Birmingham, many of them young teenage boys. "I can tell them the direction they are headed with the path they are taking," Watson, a social worker, said. "I pretty much had to deal with some of the same things. I would say 75 percent of them listen to me. They can relate with me." Watson, a six-year DHR veteran, was recently named Birmingham's foster care social worker of the year. Only 9 percent of social workers with the Alabama Department of Human Resources are male, 121 statewide. In Jefferson County, there are only a handful, said Kim Mashego, assistant director of child welfare. Watson said those statistics should change. "The male figure is just not there," Watson said. "A woman can raise a child, but a woman can't teach a child to become a man."
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Scotland: We need to learn to grow young talent
Talk to Scottish secondary teachers in deprived areas and they'll lament how youngsters say they can't do something before they've even tried. Look at the figures and you'll find that the numbers of disengaged young people is higher in Scotland than equivalent countries. Research by Professor Carol Dweck from Stanford University may help us understand why. Her empirical research shows that there are two mindsets about achievement. The fixed mindset believes people are either clever, musical, good at football or they're not. The growth mindset, by contrast, accepts that some people are born with more innate ability but still believes that any motivated, hard working individual who is taught well can improve. In fact, the supposedly untalented can end up being better than the ones showing early promise. Growth mindset ideas are upheld by research that shows the brain is not fixed but malleable. Learning changes the brain. Practising a musical instrument, for example, makes the part of the brain controlling the fingers thicker and stronger. These are the types of ideas we need to counteract the notion that we're dealt a hand at birth we can't change.
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12 SEPTEMBER 2008

Canada: Record enrolment bodes well for Mohawk campus
With an almost 30 per cent increase in the number of first-year students and core programs boasting record enrolment, Mohawk Brantford is well on its way to meeting its ambitious growth plans. An estimated 1,700 students began classes this week at the Elgin Street and downtown Odeon Centre locations. Among them are 80 students -- housed in the Odeon -- enrolled in the college's newest offerings: two-year early childhood education and three-year child and youth worker courses. Paul Armstrong, executive dean at Mohawk Brantford, said both are very popular programs at other campuses, including Mohawk's main location in Hamilton. Child care, he said, is also an area in need of local qualified graduates. "The community need for these types of workers is there."
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Ryerson University CYC arrival and departure
Dr. Ted Dunlop is the new Director of the School of Child and Youth Care. He spent the last ten years working in New Zealand. Dunlop will be replacing Dr. Carol Stuart as the Director of the School of Child and Youth Care.
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NY: Governor announces task force on transforming New York’s juvenile justice system
Governor David Paterson Wednesday announced the creation of the Task Force on Transforming Juvenile Justice to examine ways to improve New York’s juvenile justice system. The Task Force will develop and design a strategic blueprint for transforming the system, including examining alternatives to institutional placement, ways to assist children’s re-entry into the community, and redefining the conditions of confinement for juveniles across the State. The Task Force will also study ways to improve treatment for juveniles in the areas of mental health and substance abuse, and will address the disproportionate number of minority youth in the system. New York’s juvenile justice system currently serves nearly 1,900 children at an approximate annual cost of up to $200,000 per child. More than three-quarters of those children are African-American or Latino. “It is imperative that our state seek alternatives to a costly system that is not serving New York’s children, families and communities well,” said the Governor. “With 80 percent of the children in New York’s custody released and rearrested within three years, reform of New York’s juvenile justice system will not only provide those children with necessary services for success, but will translate into safer communities across the State.”
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Alberta: Children with FAS need intervention
"Make people open their eyes," said Bruce Lee, who works for Health Canada as a mentor for a home visitation program." "Some of the (mothers) don't care," said Nathan Cardinal, a policing student with four healthy children. "They don't think they're going to make it past 18 around here anyway. It's pretty dangerous." Three young people were shot and killed near Hobbema this summer. "A lot of parents don't want to admit they have a problem," said band counselor Larron Northwest. "It's certainly a battle against addiction. But Daniel, he's an example of it not being a hopeless issue." Cutknife's son finished Grade 12 last year through a remedial program. He plans to repeat the grade this year to learn more life skills, then attend a job training program out of Wetaskiwin.
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Missouri receives award for juvenile justice program
The state of Missouri is recognized as a leader in how it handles juvenile offenders. The Missouri Division of Youth Services was one of six agencies nationwide to win an Innovations in American Government award presented by Harvard University. The awards committee was impressed with Missouri's therapeutic instead of punitive approach to juvenile justice. Because of it, the department says 90 percent of the juveniles avoid further incarceration for three or more years after graduating from the program. Many turn their lives around and get their GEDs or high school diplomas as well. Missouri will also receive a $100,000 grant with this award to spread the word about its program to other states.
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Australia: Police put children left at home alone into care
Several young children have been placed in care after they were found living without adult supervision at a Blue Mountains property. The children aged between three and 15 years were found by police officers earlier this week. Police have not confirmed how many children were living at the property, because of identification issues, but are trying to locate their parents. The seizure comes little more than a week after six children, forced to live on a balcony, were removed from a home in Bidwill. Acting Inspector Gonzalo De La Harpe has commended the actions of police who supported the children during the emotional ordeal of their removal. "I believe the level of empathy and care displayed by the officers towards the children was outstanding," Inspector De La Harpe said in a statement.
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10 SEPTEMBER 2008

Canada: Councillor pulls motion to impose curfew in Sault
Ward 5 Coun. David Celetti has withdrawn his motion that could have seen city council impose a curfew on youth in Sault Ste. Marie. Celetti told council that "It's up to parents to set curfews" and asked them to "Take care of your most valuable gift, your children." He conceded that based on the advice and reports of the city solicitor, a curfew could not be enforced within the law. Celetti said because of that he will withdraw his motion, but added he will continue to work with police, Children's Aid Society and the province to reduce crime in the community. City solicitor Lorie Bottos has said any curfew bylaw could be challenged in the courts and would not survive a discriminatory test based on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Ontario's Child and Family Services Act provides that "a parent of a child younger than 16 shall not permit the child to loiter in a public place or be in a place of public entertainment without an adult between midnight and 6 a.m."
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Australia: Government urged to support state care youth
There is pressure on the Federal Government to provide support for young people who have been in state care. The advocacy group Create Foundation says in the past 10 years, there has been a 93 per cent increase in young Australians going into care. The group's chief executive, Jacqui Reed, has told PM the children need support until they are 25. She says a national system is needed, otherwise they risk ending up unemployed, pregnant, abusing alcohol and drugs or in the juvenile justice system "[Being in state care] puts them in the place that they're more likely to have these kinds of life trajectories than another kids in the normal population," she said.
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New Jersey: Council for children's welfare established
Taking into account the scores of children born into a life of disadvantage, the freeholders have developed a council which will in effect advocate for the silently struggling youth of Salem County. Freeholders announced at their last meeting the establishment of the Children's Health and Welfare Advisory Council, designed to identify problems uniquely affecting children and advise the freeholders and various interested agencies what solutions may be feasible. They will also be charged with assisting in obtaining grant funding and coordinate cooperative efforts within the county. "The health and welfare of our children is our most precious responsibility," said Deputy Director David Lindenmuth, chair of the Public Safety Committee.
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UK: Social care staff at bottom of pay pile
It's unusual for employers to highlight how little they pay their workers, but voluntary organisations running social care services for local government say today that their care assistants earn at least £100 a week less than road sweepers. The idea is to illustrate the argument that the government has done nothing effective in the past four years to tackle what the employers call "the growing crisis in social care", which they say leaves the workforce as a whole underpaid and undervalued - and voluntary sector staff at the bottom of the pile. In an analysis of recruitment and retention, the Social Care Employers Consortium (Scec), representing 41 organisations employing 65,000 workers, concludes that little has changed since a study in 2004. Recruitment problems have eased, but this is attributed to initiatives by individual employers, rather than to any government action.
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UK: County slashes night cover in care homes
The level of night time cover in Lancashire care homes is to be reduced in a cost-saving measure. But plans to axe staff ‘sleep-in’ shifts overnight have been put on hold. Proposals to cut the number of night time assistants from three to two in all council-run care homes, except for two that also provide nursing care, have been rubber-stamped in a move that will save the county council £370,000 a year. Currently a member of staff sleeps overnight at each of the council’s 17 care homes, and is woken in an emergency. This facility looked under threat when the original proposals were revealed by the Lancashire Telegraph ahead of a period of consultation with staff and unions.
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Texas: Bureaucratic ranks flourish at TYC
The Texas Youth Commission has half the offenders it did 18 months ago, but the number of administrators overseeing the state's juvenile correctional agency hasn't been cut. It's grown. And some of the new bureaucrats have recently enjoyed raises. Take Stephen Foster. He was hired last year as the agency's general counsel, at an annual salary of $104,000. Then, as the population of offenders at his agency began plummeting — it now stands at 2,200 — Foster received a nearly 7 percent raise. He now earns $111,000 a year, according to agency records. His new salary is almost 8 percent higher than that of his counterpart at the state's adult prison system, Melinda Hoyle Bozarth, even though Bozarth works for an agency with 158,000 inmates.
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Children are doing far less exercise than parents think
The amount children exercise is greatly overestimated and may be six times less than figures suggest according to a study published today. Research into the activity levels of a group of children found they took far less exercise than their parents thought they did. The study followed 130 children aged six and seven. The amount of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity they undertook in seven days was calculated using a device called an accelerometer, which was attached to their belts. The results were compared with information supplied by their parents in a health survey. Researchers found that the true level of exercise was around six times lower than that suggested by the health survey. Guidelines suggest that children should undertake at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise a day, including taking part in sports, brisk walking and running.
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8 SEPTEMBER 2008

New Zealand: Cyber bully still free to lure teens into online suicide pacts
A teenage girl exposed as luring her classmates into online suicide pacts still has access to computers and cellphones at school. Last week, Sunday News revealed how the 15-year-old Christchurch Girls' High School student had targeted two of her classmates into a bizarre suicide pact after pretending to be one of the girl's "boyfriend." The twisted teen had previously been caught trying to entice two Henderson High School cheerleaders into a suicide pact after creating fake identities purporting to be those of two boys and then using them to email the girls a detailed suicide instruction manual. Sunday News can today reveal that the cyber bully - who can't be named for legal reasons - is still able to use school computers to access the internet during class time without supervision.
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Australia: Call to aid youth leaving care
Those who have grown up in care say more support for young adults leaving foster homes, group accommodation and juvenile institutions is needed to help them fend for themselves. At the start of National Child Protection Week today, Jacqui Reed, the chief executive of the CREATE Foundation, which helps those in so-called out-of-home care, said transition to independent living was "the biggest burning issue". The call for greater assistance for young people comes as figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show the number of children in care nationally has almost doubled in the past 10 years, growing from 3 per 1000 children to 5.8 per 1000 at June 30, 2007. The institute said "increasingly complex family situations of children associated with parental substance abuse, mental health and family violence" were partly responsible for the rise. These factors also affected the length of time children were in care.
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Maryland: Child welfare decisions aren't based on race
The Maryland Department of Human Resources does not use and does not condone using race as a determining factor in deciding a proper course for abused or neglected children ("Keeping families whole," editorial, Sept. 2). We never have and we never will. The issue of disproportionate representation of children of color in the child welfare system is not unique to Maryland. Like many other states, Maryland is looking at practices to address this issue. But thus far, no credible national or statewide studies have revealed specific ways to directly remedy this systemic issue. However, there are many new and promising social work practices that may reduce - across all racial lines - the number of displaced children. DHR has already begun to implement many of these practices as part of our signature Place Matters initiative, which focuses on ensuring that every child in Maryland has a permanent place to live as quickly as possible.
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Scotland's first Children's Commissioner to quit post
The Children's Commissioner is giving up the job, she revealed yesterday. Professor Kathleen Marshall is the first person to hold the post in Scotland and began work in April 2004. But she has decided not to complete another five-year term and will stand down in April next year. She said: "I hope I have made a difference to the lives of children, especially those whose rights were most under threat, such as asylum seekers, children with disabilities and those in care. "I believe 10 years would be too long to stay in the post. This seems the right time to step down as it is a natural break and the office is ready to consult on new priorities." Marshall has been vocal in her concerns about holding children at the Dungavel immigration centre in Lanarkshire. She has also been an outspoken opponent of so-called "dawn raids" on families of failed asylum seekers. Professor Marshall added: "In the remaining eight months of my term, I will be pursuing implementation of the recommendations in my reports to parliament in relation to disability, young people who are leaving care and the children of prisoners."
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Australia: Give new mums 'one year off'
A parenting expert has called for Australia to adopt a minimum one-year national paid maternity scheme, as debate continues over author Mem Fox's controversial comments on babies in childcare. Psychologist and best-selling author Steve Biddulph, an advocate of no childcare for children under one, said yesterday that a national paid maternity scheme of at least 12 months was required. Biddulph has written a confrontational book on the dangers of childcare for children under three years. The book, Raising Babies – Should under 3s go to Nursery?, released in the UK in 2006, warns that childcare used "too much, too early, too long" damages baby brain chemistry and affects social and emotional development. "We think the book was instrumental in helping bring about in England a definitive 12-month paid maternity leave," Biddulph said.
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Children in care 'should be able to sue local councils'
Children in care should be given the right to sue the local councils responsible for their "shameful" education and upbringing, according to a report out next week. There are around 60,000 children in the care of local authorities. The report details how they are likely to end up with few or no qualifications, poor prospects of employment and prone to get involved in crime and drugs. The Centre for Social Justice, a think-tank chaired by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, says the care system is a "source of national shame". The CSJ report paints a bleak picture of the future that awaits children in care. Only 11 per cent get five good GCSE passes, compared to an average of 56 per cent. Only 29 per cent of former children in care are in education, training or employment at age 19. Almost a third of young people misuse drugs and alcohol within a year of leaving care, the study says. Children in care are as much as five times more likely to suffer mental illness than the average child. Nearly a third of children in custody have previously been in care. A similar proportion of young people living on the streets spent time in care.
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Utah doctor indicted in therapy camp death
A prominent Utah County physician stands accused of negligent homicide in connection with the death of a Salt Lake City teen in a southwest Colorado wilderness therapy program. But Keith R. Hooker, who has worked in the emergency department at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center since 1970, says he is innocent. And the indictment, which also accuses him of child abuse, contains no allegations about what he is alleged to have done or failed to do. Caleb Jensen, 15, died May 2, 2007, from a staphylococcus infection, which Colorado prosecutors contend went untreated despite glaring symptoms. The boy spent the last week of his life lying in his own urine and feces, in a remote field camp operated by Alternative Youth Adventures in Montrose County, Colo., court documents allege. Jensen had been sent to the camp by Utah juvenile justice officials. Colorado authorities shut AYA down two months after Jensen's death. Hooker, who served as the program's medical adviser, was indicted in July and related documents were unsealed Aug. 25. He was arraigned in a Montrose, Colo., court last week and pleaded not guilty. His next hearing is scheduled for Oct. 6.
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Canada: Time is running out on criminals - a full review of the Criminal Justice Act
Finally, even the hug-a-thug tall foreheads from Quebec have to see the scum and call it dirt. Yes, at the end of a gabfest yesterday in La Belle Province, even the hosts, who up until now have been timid about getting real with kid criminals, joined justice ministers from coast to coast to coast and the feds and bought into promising to put a little spine into the lawbooks when it comes to youth offenders. Alison Redford, Alberta's justice minister and a Calgary Tory MLA, who tells the Sun earlier this week how she wants a legal system with real backbone, finds her colleagues across the country, no matter if they're provincial Liberals, NDPers or Tories, are sick and tired of the kid gloves approach with kid criminals, most who are far more criminal than kid. Talk of nurturing the nastiest out of serious and repeat youth baddies grows fainter by the day, long after the majority of citizens have had to live with the consequences of decisions made by weak-kneed politicians on the advice of eggheads with their heads up their ivory towers. Yes, when idiots under 18 are right in there with the gangs and the guns it is truly time to get everybody's feet planted firmly on planet Earth.
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5 SEPTEMBER 2008

US: The Number of Suicides among Teens Increases
Researchers stated on Tuesday that even if the number of suicides among adolescents in the U.S. decreased since 2005, the number remains very big compared with the historical period. For 10 years now, the youth suicide rate has fallen but is still 18% bigger compared to 2004. The government has released some antidepressants that make the teenagers stop taking drugs. A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that the government’s suggestion made the patients accept to be treated with antidepressant or other therapies. Robert D. Gibbons, a biostatistician at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that even if the number of suicides has decreased there is room for concern, as the suicide trend is still upward. Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh analyzed data from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. They studied suicide reports from 1996 to make a statistic and they discovered that in 2003 antidepressants as Prozac of Zoloft were prescribed for teenagers, against suicidal thoughts.
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Scotland: 'Challenges ahead' over child care
Scotland faces big challenges to improve care for vulnerable children, a minister said. Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for education and lifelong learning, outlined how the SNP government plans to carry on the previous administration's overhaul of services such as social work and children's justice.
She told Parliament: "Scotland faces big challenges. Over 14,000 children are looked after by local authorities and we know that all too often the support offered to looked after children is not reflected in improved outcomes." She added: "The child must be at the centre, and children and their families involved as closely as possible." The previous Labour-Liberal Democrat administration set up the overhaul, aimed particularly at improving services for vulnerable young people. It also outlined plans to ensure early action to tackle youth crime through the children's hearing system.
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UK: High Incidence Of Mental Disorders Revealed In Young Offender Institutions
Adolescent girls in young offender institutions are particularly vulnerable to depression, a large-scale study led by Oxford University has shown. The researchers have found incidences of mental health problems in both boys and girls are many times greater in juvenile detention centres than in the general population. The high prevalence of mental disorders highlights the need for improved psychiatric care in juvenile justice and detention centres, say the researchers. Oxford University researchers in the Department of Psychiatry and the Department of Public Health and Primary Care, together with the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, have carried out a large-scale review and analysis of data from 25 different psychiatric surveys involving 16,750 young people in juvenile detention facilities around the world. The results are published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
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Ireland: Children need adults who will listen and champion their cause.
The words conference, network, ombudsman are three relatively workmanlike, professional words that gather huge meaning and momentum when gathered around the words "for children". The more high-powered this conference, the stronger this network, the more ombudspersons there are in this field, the better are the lived lives and the prospects for good lives, of our children, Europe's children, Europe's future. We have high hopes and high ambitions for those children and we desire for them a secure childhood, where they are loved, nurtured, protected, educated and supported safely through those years of dependency to adulthood. We know that is not how life pans out for many children. From their earliest moments in the womb, they can be unwitting victims of the avoidable actions of others and the unavoidable ups and downs of nature at work in the world, from the children born with foetal alcohol syndrome or HIV, to children born with disabilities or into families where illness makes them care-worn carers before their time, or where poverty or dysfunction reduces their life's chances even before their little lives are launched. Some will transcend adversity with remarkable resilience, others will sink into half-lived lives.
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New Zealand: Better help for victims ensured
Gaps in care for the victims of sexual assault should be a thing of the past now the MidCentral District Health Board has brokered a deal between Southern Cross Specialist Services and ACC. Twice in the past two years the service had almost faltered, board child and youth health portfolio manager Barb Bradnock said. At Christmas 2006 there were not enough doctors for sexual abuse care available to provide holiday cover, and in 2007 two of the specialist GPs pulled out and the board had to pick up the slack. "Sexual abuse of adults, adolescents and children is a harsh reality of life in our society," she said. Dealing with it sensitively, supporting victims' recovery, as well as making sure forensic evidence was collected where appropriate, were critical tasks. "A child who is the victim of prolonged sexual abuse usually develops low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness and an abnormal or distorted view of sex." The potential for suicide, or for victims to become abusers, needed to be managed.
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UK: Rise in youths re-offending within year of release
The number of youths who re-offend within a year of being released has risen Printer friendly version The number of youths who re-offend within a year of being released from prison has risen, new figures show. The Ministry of Justice today published figures on re-offending for adults and juveniles in England and Wales. The statistics show that 77 per cent of ten to 17-year-olds were convicted of a further offence following their release in 2006, up from 73.1 per cent the year before. Overall, however, the figures show that adult and youth re-offending rates have fallen. Adult re-offending fell 13 per cent from 167.9 re-offences per 100 offenders in 2005 to 146.1 in 2006. There was also a 1.5 per cent fall in the number of juvenile re-offences, from 125.0 to 123.1 per 100 offenders. The number of serious re-offences was also down, falling from 0.88 per 100 adult offenders to 0.69 and from 0.9 serious juvenile offences to 0.83.
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UK: Officers sacked for youth attack
Two policemen have been sacked and a third told to resign for assaulting and threatening a 16-year-old boy and then trying to cover up their actions. Northamptonshire officers William Docherty, 42, and Sean Holiditch, 43, were found guilty of seven charges at a disciplinary hearing, the IPCC said. Steve Eaton, 50, was required to resign after pleading guilty to three charges. IPCC commissioner Amerdeep Somal said their actions in arresting the boy, who had breached bail, were a "disgrace". The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) looked into allegations that the trio, based at Campbell Square, Northampton, assaulted and threatened the youth, then attempted to pervert the course of justice. The allegations included causing a police sergeant to make an incorrect entry in the custody log and threatening to fabricate evidence following the teenager's arrest in Daventry on 24 November 2006.
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3 SEPTEMBER 2008

Wales: "Shame on our social services"
CARDIFF’S most vulnerable children are being failed again – just two years after the city’s social services was lifted out of special measures. A damning report on the performance of children’s services shows that out of an annual 27 targets, the department was currently on track to achieve just three.And in a double blow the internal report shows that as well as failing to meet the council’s own targets it is also failing to meet stringent targets set by Wales’ social care inspectorate (CSSIW). The report has been called the worst since the city’s social services was lifted out of special measures by the Welsh Assembly Government in 2006. "Allocate sufficient social workers to current cases of children in care. The CSSIW recommends a named social worker should be allocated in 99.8% of cases. In Cardiff this is happening in 72.8% of cases"
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New Jersey: Advocates question drop in child-abuse complaints
The percentage of proven child abuse and neglect cases in foster homes, schools, day care centers and other group settings fell to an all-time low last year, but state officials and child advocates are not sure if that is good news. The state unit that pursues allegations of harm to children that occurs outside their family homes corroborated 3 percent of allegations last year -- a sharp drop from just two years earlier, when it proved 11.4 percent. The unit has received an average of 3,200 complaints a year. The rates first slipped in 2006, after the state tightened rules on how the Institutional Abuse Investigations Unit determines whether an allegation of harm to children has merit. State officials say the ongoing $1 billion overhaul of the child welfare system has produced safer foster homes and a policy to rely less on detention centers and shelters. But child advocates worry that the percentages are lower because allegations aren't getting the attention they deserve -- and that this could force children to spend all or part of their days in dangerous places.
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Maryland: Keeping families whole
Statistically, the most likely profile of a neglectful or abusive parent is a 30-year-old, college-educated white woman who has a job. Yet in Maryland, African-American children are far more likely than their white counterparts to be removed from their homes by child welfare officials because of maltreatment. A recent study by Advocates for Children and Youth, a group that lobbies for children's issues in Maryland, found that while African-Americans make up only a third of the state's children, they constitute nearly three-quarters of the children removed from their homes, and are five times more likely than white children to be placed in group or foster home care. Yet rates of maltreatment among black and white families are virtually identical. This week, ACY will ask Gov. Martin O'Malley to issue an executive order that begins to address these disparities. The order would direct the state Department of Human Resources to identify specific sources of bias within the current child welfare system and to retrain child welfare workers in family-centered practices aimed at keeping more African-American children in their homes.
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Somalia: SOS mother seriously injured and former SOS child killed in separate attacks
At 10.00 am local time on Sunday, 31 August, fighting broke out in the Medina area of Mogadishu where some of the SOS families have been relocated. Hearing the shooting SOS mother Fahamu hurried to get her children inside and in the process was hit by a stray bullet in the chest. She was assisted by another co-worker, but due to the heavy fighting it was 15 minutes before they could leave for the hospital. Once there, an SOS youth leader donated blood and Fahamu underwent surgery on Sunday afternoon. She is now conscious and on the road to recovery. The Medina Hospital is an ICRC hospital in the south of Mogadishu. The SOS Hospital is in the north of the town and is often inaccessible due to a large military presence in the area. The SOS families were evacuated from the SOS Children's Village (which is just opposite the SOS Hospital) last December, after the village was hit by mortar fire and an SOS family assistant was killed
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Mississippi: State Supreme Court asks input on Youth Court
The state Supreme Court is seeking public comments on the proposed Uniform Rules of Youth Court Practice. The deadline is September 29 for submitting public comments. The Supreme Court created a 12-member task force for Youth Court rules of procedure and charged it with overseeing development of a set of uniform rules of procedure for youth courts. The Supreme Court will consider comments from the bench, the bar and the public before finalizing uniform rules.
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UK: Bringing together education and children's services
Having social workers in schools has long been lauded as beneficial for the health and well-being for all children, not just the disadvantaged and vulnerable ones. From children's trusts to extended schools and the aims of Every Child Matters, the drive to bring services together continues to gain momentum. Last December's Children's Plan developed this by stating that the government sees schools as the hub through which services are accessed. The plan says: "By 2010, all schools will be providing access to a range of extended services." It wants all schools to offer activities including support for study and parents, and "swift and easy referral to specialist and targeted services".
A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesperson says the government does not necessarily expect there to be "more social workers in schools" but for there to be swifter and easier access to services, through co-locating them in places where families go.
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Canada: Tories' take on youth crime 'false'
If the federal Conservatives do call an election this week, they must do better than the obnoxious pamphlet they circulated recently concerning young offenders if they want to establish credibility on their so-called "tough on crime" platform. This was the view of a Northern News editorial yesterday. The information -- which was overhyped, Texas style -- was designed to frighten voters into voting for the Conservatives, because no one else can protect them from the young hordes raging through the streets. The pamphlet, circulated in Greater Sudbury by Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry Tory MP Guy Lauzon, contains emotive language designed to scare. "Young thugs are committing crimes without fear of consequences," it says. "The Conservative government is cleaning up the youth-crime mess." The Conservative pamphlet says: "Today, more and more young hoodlums are brazenly breaking the law."
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1 SEPTEMBER 2008

Orientation At UNBC
UNBC is expecting a modest increase in enrolment this year. Orientation for new students starte Sunday. There will be sessions for students and parents that will attract nearly 800 participants to the Northern Sport Centre and the Agora Courtyard. The new academic year actually gets underway Tuesday with some new programs being offered this year. The School of Social Work is also offering a new certificate in Aboriginal Child and Youth Mental Health (starting in January) and the School of Education has developed a new certificate program oriented to Montessori Education. Other events this year icnlude the opening of the new Northern Undergraduate Student Centre that is set for later this month. The facility will house space for student clubs, a café, student administrative offices, student lounges, and a pub/event space.
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Miami: Bob Butterworth put DCF on a progressive path
Gov. Crist knew what he was getting when he asked Bob Butterworth to head the Department of Children & Families. The foster youth in DCF's care might have overlooked the appointment, seeing it as just another change to be logged in a file somewhere. However, Butterworth's recent resignation has given foster youth a reason to reflect upon and celebrate the great improvements that have taken place at DCF during the past 19 months. The manner in which Crist and Butterworth worked with us on this transition is one example of those changes. After announcing that he was stepping down, Butterworth did something extraordinary: He shared his decision with the young people whom he has called his ``most trusted advisors.'' Florida Youth SHINE is a statewide child-advocacy board made up of youth from across the state. We have become friends with this extraordinary man. He requested a conference call with our members to explain his decision and reassure us that DCF will move forward.
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Louisiana: Juvenile Detention Centers Evacuated
The Office of Juvenile Justice (OJJ) has coordinated movement of youth housed in coastal parish juvenile detention centers to safer locations. Parish detention centers have either evacuated their youth already or made plans to evacuate by Saturday morning. The parishes of Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines, St. James, Lafourche, Terrebonne, St. Martin, Lafayette and Calcasieu have moved youth, who will be housed in facilities from Baton Rouge to north Louisiana, during the emergency period. "OJJ staff are truly dedicated to the youth in our care, and will do whatever it takes to maintain both public safety and the safety of our youth," said Interim Deputy Secretary Mary Livers. "I am very impressed by our staff's concern for our mission, and each other, as they work together as a team to care for our youth. In addition, regional office staff in north Louisiana have volunteered to step in for south ! Louisiana staff who must care for their families and cannot report for duty during a storm and its immediate aftermath." OJJ operates three secure care facilities for adjudicated youth, including Bridge City Center for Youth (BCCY) near New Orleans, Jetson Center for Youth (JCY) in Baker, near Baton Rouge, and Swanson Center for Youth (SCY) in Monroe.
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Georgia: Truancy fight tests schools, legal system
High school dropouts are a drain on everyone in a community, weakening the work force, weighing on the economy and relying more often on social services. But dropouts aren't born overnight. They begin as truants, schoolchildren who develop the habit of skipping school and progressively get worse, according to a study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The foundation called truancy the greatest predictor of dropping out of school. "Kids just don't wake up one morning and say, 'Gosh, I don't think I'm going to school anymore,' " said Carol Rountree, Richmond County's director of guidance, testing and research. "If we allow them to become disconnected early on, we're going to have a hard time building a meaningful relationship for them that continues through 12 years."
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Australia: Anita Phillips reappointed as ACT Public Advocate
The ACT Government has reappointed Anita Phillips as the Public Advocate for the territory for another two years. The Public Advocate is responsible for protecting and promoting the rights and interests of vulnerable citizens. Attorney-General Simon Corbell announced Ms Phillips' reappointment today, praising her integrity and dedication to the job. Ms Phillips says over the last three years they have achieved quite a lot. "The most exciting achievement has been the passing of the legislation to allow family next of kin to be able to make decisions and give consent for treatment for their loved ones who are unable to do it for themselves," she said. Ms Phillips says she will focus on achieving improvements for children in care and lobby more strongly on behalf of people with mental problems. "We need improved facilities for people who have a mental illness, we don't have any facilities really for people who have long-term mental illness, but we also need improved services for people in the community," she said.
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Smokes plan 'will cost shops £40m'
PLANS to abolish tobacco displays and sell cigarettes from below the counter will cost Scottish corner shops up to £40m, ministers have been warned. Traders claim the measures, expected to be set out by the Scottish government this week, will threaten the livelihoods of shopkeepers and that making tobacco more illicit may encourage more young people to take up smoking. Shona Robison, the health minister, is determined to move tobacco products from view as part of the government’s ongoing drive to reduce smoking-related illnesses which claim the lives of about 13,500 people every year.
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