The SCIE Social Care TV website is a freely available online television channel provided by the Social Care Institute for Excellence. The site contains short films on all aspects of the social care sector and will be a very useful resources for students, researchers and practitioners.

From Intute:

The Child Poverty Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 11th June 2009 as Bill 112 Session 2008-09.

“The Bill would provide a statutory basis to the commitment made by the Government in 1999 to eradicate child poverty by 2020.” It “places a duty on the Secretary of State to meet four United Kingdom-wide income poverty targets by the end of the financial year 2020″. These are Relative poverty; Combined low income and material deprivation; Persistent poverty; and Absolute poverty.

The progress of the Bill can be followed from this Parliament webpage and the full text of the document can be accessed in html or PDF format. http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2008-09/childpoverty.html

Child wellbeing and child poverty : where the UK stands in the European table.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20090423-1057587

Is poverty or safety the No.1 issue for children at risk? – Tackling child poverty and strengthening support to those families in greatest need is at the heart of a new Welsh law recently laid before the Welsh National Assembly by Ministers.  The proposed Children and Families (Wales) Measure is intended to help improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children and families in Wales.

It sets a clear direction for the WAG’s aim of improving the quality of life & equality of opportunity for every community in Wales.  A duty will be placed on Welsh Ministers to develop a new Child Poverty Strategy for Wales, which would have to be reviewed every 3 years. The proposed Measure will also place a duty on specific Welsh public bodies to identify & take action to assist in the goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020.

Providing opportunities for play will also be embedded in the Measure, as will assuring children & young people’s participation in decisions which affect their lives. Welsh Ministers will also be able to place a duty on local authorities to secure free, high quality, targeted childcare in specific areas, in line with One Wales commitments.

CILIP Education Librarians Group
Children’s Literature Event

March 25th 2009 2:00-4:30pm at the new Swansea Central Library

In The Picture

This Education Librarians Group children’s literature event is on the theme of inclusion. With generous funding from SWAP (South West Area Partnership) we are offering a free afternoon workshop on the In the Picture project with Penny Dickinson to be held at the new Swansea Central Library.

Scope’s In The Picture campaign is about embracing diversity – so that disabled children, who have been virtually invisible until recently, are included alongside others in illustrations and story lines in books for young readers. The campaign has been supported by Jacqueline Wilson and Quentin Blake. See the web pages at http://www.childreninthepicture.org.uk/index.htm

This event will be of particular interest to those working with young children, including early years specialists. There will also be the opportunity to have a tour of the children’s section in the Library. All are welcome. There is no charge but booking is essential.

Please contact j.mills@roehampton.ac.uk (020 8392 3772) Roehampton University Library, Roehampton Lane, London SW15 5SZ

Venue: Swansea Central Library, Civic Centre, Oystermouth Road.
Information about the venue with link to map:
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=10956
Directions for parking:
http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=23044#

Penny Dickinson of Scope was involved in the initiation of the In the Picture campaign and will lead an interactive workshop which will:

Explore the work of the project – its aims, aspirations and successes – and the way forward

Emphasise the importance of inclusive resources for young and disabled children

Increase awareness of existing resources – particularly books toys and games which include all children

Examine the role disabled children have played in literature in the past and their ideas for the future

Increase understanding of methods to make settings more inclusive

Demonstrate the effectiveness of certain media when working with children

The first ever national campaign to respect, recruit and retain child social workers will be launched today with a drive to recruit 5,000 professionals who have recently left to tighten the safety net and reduce the chance of children dying from abuse or neglect.

Council leaders will highlight that, while there have been consistent improvements in recruitment and retention over the last few years, there are still problems that need to be addressed. In the aftermath of the tragic death of Baby P, council leaders are deeply concerned that the fallout from the case will lead to a decline in respect for child social workers, a wave of departures from the profession and a difficulty in attracting new candidates.

A new report launched today, Respect and Protect, by the LGA shows that:

• One in ten child social worker post are vacant at any one time
• Of those councils who experience recruitment difficulties, 89% had trouble recruiting experienced children social workers
• Around 5,500 child social workers are agency staff.

Read the press release

The Good Childhood Inquiry was commissioned by The Children’s Society and launched in September 2006 as the UK’s first independent national inquiry into childhood.

With the launch of the report A Good Childhood: Searching for Values in a Competitive Age on 5 February 2009, they have collected together the evidence used to inform the report, the recommendations and summaries of the themes discussed in the report.

Find out more here

The State of the World’s Children 2009 examines critical issues in maternal and newborn health, underscoring the need to establish a comprehensive continuum of care for mothers, newborns and children. The report outlines the latest paradigms in health programming and policies for mothers and newborns, and explores policies, programmes and partnerships aimed at improving maternal and neonatal health. Africa and Asia are a key focus for this report, which complements the previous year’s issue on child survival.
http://www.unicef.org/sowc09/