Intergenerational transmission of worklessness: Evidence from the Millennium Cohort and the Longitudinal Study of Young People In England

"This research report presents the findings from a study that investigated the extent of parental worklessness in families with young and teenage children, and determined how parental worklessness impacts on children’s cognitive ability, education attainment, behaviours, attitude to school, academic aspirations and experience of the transition from school to work.
Drawing on evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), the research included a focus on children in primary education (MCS) to gauge early potential scarring effects from household worklessness and on young people (LSYPE), to consider the transition from school to work and to identify any inter-generational link between parental worklessness and the young person’s likelihood of being Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)."

Family Group Conferences

Todays Guardian online contains an articles on How Family Group Conferences Have the Power to Change Lives. prinicpally by gathering extended family groups together in an informal setting to find solutions for children's problems within the family. Problems addressed might include the finding alternative accomodation for children rather than being fostered by social services, help with education, substance misuse or getting into trouble with the police. Although the article makes reference to services in England, facilitated by the voluntary organisation Daybreak, Family Group Conferences, also known as Family Group Meetings are also facilitated in Scotland by Children 1st among others. For further reading see Examining the Use and Impact of Family Group Conferencing (2007),  research project conducted by researcher's from Stirling University on behalf of the Scottish Government.

The Kilbrandon Lectures - reflections on Care and Justice for Children in Scotland

The Kilbrandon Child Care Lecture series was set up to commenorate the Kilbrandon Report (1964), which led to the establishment of the Children's Hearings System.This publication brings together the first ten lectures exploring the children's hearings system, children's rights, families and processes in other countries.

The lectures (links to full list) are:
Sandford J. Fox (1991). Children's hearings in the international community. 
Fred Stone (1995). Advent of the Children (Scotland) Act in 1995.
Donalds Dewar (1997). Justice for Scotland's children.
Anthony Clare (1999). The Lost Boyhood of Judas.
Neil MacCormick (2001). A Special Conception of Juvenile Justice: Kilbrandon's legacy.
Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (2003). Justice for Europe's Children.
Trond Waage (2005). Modern Childhood: The image of the child in our society .
Bjorn Cronstedt (2007).Children in Conflict with the Law: An International Perspective.
Kathleen Marshall (2009). Children's Hearings and the Love that Binds: Reflections on Community, Discipline and Exile. 
Harry Burns (2011). Healthier Lives: Better Futures. 

Social Care Student Week

This week the Guardian Online Social-Care-Network has been focusing on students, with a raft of articles relevant to new trainee social workers:
What advice would I give to my younger self on social work by Blogger Ermintrude,
Top tips for social work students from a variety of professionals,
What kind of social work student will you be (Quiz),
How Nana Mary inspired me to start my social work MA by Tara Reynolds,
Busting the myths about social work by Louise Tickle, 
Should UK universities take social work education more seriously? by Claire Burke, comparing the Finnish model,
Social work is an extremely hard fight. But it's a worthy one, by newly qualified soical worker Rebecca Novell.

Fostering in Scotland unfair?

Sarah Lurie, director of Fostering Network Scotland writes in the Guardian, crticising the current lack of regulation by the Scottish Government in fostering, which has left local authorities and independent fostering providers to set their own fostering allowance rates, and foster carers potenitally being asked to care for higher numbers of children than in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, where the limit for unrelated placements is 3 at one time. This year the Scottish Government conducted a consulation exercise for the proposed Children and Young People's Bill. The new bill will hopefully bring Scotland into line with the rest of the UK in the above areas. Additionally Lurie is hopeful that proposals for payment for foster carers in line with the remuneration of staff in residential children's care will increase recruitment and retention of foster carers.

Into the Unknown - Children's Journeys Through the Asylum Process

This week the Children's Society published a report Into the Unknown, on the experiences of unaccompanied children seeking asylum on arrival in the UK. THe report is critical of the UK Border agency, with the Children's Society maintaining that the UKBA fails to ensure that children fully understand the process they are entered into and that children who may already be traumatised, having fled from violence, have to contend with a culture of disbelief. Many children reported that when being interviewed by the UKBA, there was no responsible adult to act on tehir behalf, and that interpreters often lacked the specific regional dialect or language to do the job properly. The Children's Society concludes that better training is essential for interpreters involved in this work and that an independent feedback and complaints system needs to be established to keep children fully informed of the process of their claim.

Alcohol and Older People

BASW have published a guide on Alcohol and Older People which attempts to explain some of the reasons why  older people may use alcohol and drink more than the recommended limits. Old age may bring social isolation and fears of ageing, or alcohol may be used as self-medication to cope with age related illness. Often older people may become involved in “drinking networks” simply to have some company. Older people may be more likely to be misdiagnosed by health services as alcohol related symptoms may present in conjunction with other age related conditions.
On the same subject, a BBC Panorama broadcast Old Drunk and Disorderly, examines why those over 65 are more likely to drink every day, and drink alone, than anyother age group, leading to more alcohol related hospital admissions for older people than for the often assumed to be heavy drinking 16-24 year old age group.