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Welcome to June's issue of the Family and Parenting Institute's newsletter – Family Focus. To subscribe to this newsletter click here

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1. News
2. Family Policy Digest
3. Horizon scan
4. Forward look
5. Notice board
5. Consultations

 

1. News

Youth Justice

The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies has published a new report assessing the Government's youth justice reforms. Many important goals have been missed despite a substantial increase in expenditure on youth justice.

Also, the UK's four Children's Commissioners joined forces to submit a joint report to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. On youth justice, the Commissioners criticise the State's punitive approach, the low age of criminal responsibility and the high numbers of children criminalised.
More

Child poverty

100,000 more children live in relative poverty this year than last, according to the 2006/07 Household Below Average Income figures. The figures, which were released on June 10, show that despite the latest rise, since 1999 the number of children in relative poverty has fallen by 600,000 (Before Household Cost) and 500,000 (After Household Cost). In 2006/07, there were 3.9 million children living in relative poverty.
More

Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities

Following on from the launch of a six-month public consultation on care and support for older and disabled people, the Department of Health has published a carers' strategy, with £255 million funding, including £150 million to fund short breaks for carers.
DH

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Family Policy Digest

This month's digest gives insight into modern families' lives, with the latest findings from the Families and Children Study about the circumstances of families in Britain; a study from Ofcom about children's use of media including the internet, television, mobile phones and games consoles; and updated information about parents' use of childcare.
More

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Horizon Scan

Marriage, relationships and motherhood

Modern motherhood is the subject of a conference to be held by the Family and Parenting Institute on 2 July. We will be show-casing papers from the Open University on the Making of Modern Motherhood as well as publishing our own discussion paper.
More

Relationships and the family are top of the Conservative policy discussion agenda at the moment. Conservative leader David Cameron promised to make Britain more family friendly in a keynote lecture at Relate this week.
Conservatives

A survey by the right-leaning think-tank Civitas revealed that 70 per cent of people aged between 20 and 35 want to get married.
Civitas

A review of the delivery of sex and relationship education (SRE) in primary and secondary schools, originally set out in the Children's Plan is expected to be published in June.
DCSF

Meanwhile some companies are trying to cash in on divorce in the same way as they cash in on marriage. The first divorce fair in Britain is to be in Brighton in September.
mailonline

New action on runaway children

A new cross-government working group is expected to publish an action plan to drive forward the work on young runaways by June 2008 and to conduct a review of emergency accommodation provision for completion this summer.
DCSF

Youth Crime Action Plan

The publication of this plan as mentioned in the Children's Plan is expected soon looking at:

• the factors that lead young people to offend (including the factors that can predict prolific or career offending);
• the interventions that are most effective in tackling these factors;
• how the 'system' can identify risk early, deliver holistic yet meaningful assessment,
• and tailored and effective interventions;

More

 

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Forward look

Check here for upcoming events in the family and parenting world. Please let us know of your forthcoming events so we can include them.
More

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Notice board

Carers Week 9-15 June 2008

Carers Week

Parents' Week 08: Getting it right for families?

The ninth annual Parents' Week will take place from Monday 20th October to Sunday 26th October 2008.
More

Parent Child 2008 - Getting it right for families?

Thursday 13 and Friday 14 November 2008
This international flagship conference will look at

• How do families work?
• How do we work with families?

More

 

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Consultations

Statutory Guidance for Children's Trusts on the Duty to Cooperate: consultation

This guidance on inter-agency co-operation, issued under section 10 of the Children Act 2004, reflects the experience of developing Children's Trust arrangements since the publication of Every Child Matters. The guidance supplements the Statutory Guidance on inter-agency cooperation to improve wellbeing of children: children's trusts (2005).
Deadline: 26 June 2008
DCSF
and
parents consultation

Assessing the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing - a call for evidence

Contributions have been invited to Professor David Buckingham's review of the impact of the commercial world on children's wellbeing. Key questions include:

• The size of the market for children's products and trends in children's commercial world.
• What evidence exists about the balance of benefit and harm to children's outcomes, as defined by Every Child Matters?
• Are parents and children worried about increasing commercial pressures?
• What do children and parents enjoy about engaging with the commercial world?

Deadline: 30 June 2008
DCSF

The CAMHS Review - Next Steps to Improving the Emotional Well-Being and Mental Health of Children and Young People. Call for Evidence

The independent review of CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) will investigate how universal, targeted and specialist services can be improved to meet the needs of children and young people who are experiencing, or are at risk of, mental health problems. This consultation calls for evidence from all individuals, organisations and groups.
Deadline: 7 July 2008
DCSF

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Suzie Peleg Information and Website Manager
www.familyandparenting.org
June 2008
Current subscribers –12382
Family Focus is published monthly.
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