Category Archives: Children

Black children in England and Wales almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched than white peers – report

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Demographic also overrepresented when police officers use force such as handcuffs, firearms or Tasers, says children’s commissioner

Black children across England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched by police than their white counterparts, a report has disclosed.

Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said Black children are also overrepresented when officers use force and were more likely to have their “size, gender or build” cited as justification.

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Minnesota boy fighting for life after rescuing younger brother from creek

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Ashkan Thibodeaux, five years old, saved his kid brother Wyatt after he fell into ‘icy water’ of creek they were exploring

A five-year-old Minnesota boy reportedly jumped into frigid water after his younger brother fell in on Easter Sunday to successfully rescue him – and has subsequently had to fight for his life at a hospital, a battle in which he is making steady progress, according to his family.

Ashkan Thibodeaux’s story, which has captured widespread attention in corners of the internet dedicated to spotlighting remarkable displays of bravery, began with exploring a creek in Minnesota’s Itasca county alongside his kid brother, Wyatt, on 5 April, his family and their supporters say.

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Child victims of online sexual abuse in UK inadequately protected, review finds

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Lack of funding leaving police forces failing to keep pace with two-thirds annual increase in referrals, says report

Child victims of online sexual abuse are being inadequately protected from further harm because police forces are struggling to cope with an increase in this crime, his majesty’s chief inspector of constabulary has warned.

Michelle Skeer said: “Without investment and coordination, the situation will worsen and children could be put at further risk.”

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More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says

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Researchers say hardship is a direct legacy of welfare benefit cuts imposed by Tory governments in recent years

More than a fifth of all “austerity generation” British children have been scarred by poverty for at least half their childhood, a direct legacy of the welfare benefit cuts imposed by Conservative governments in recent years, research reveals.

The proportion of children born after 2013 who spent at least six of their first 11 years of life in hardship surged after ministers froze working age benefits levels and imposed policies such as the two-child limit, it found.

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State failing to learn lessons of Southport attack, say victims’ lawyers

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Exclusive: Guardian analysis suggests young people who pose ‘catastrophic’ threat still slipping through system

Ministers are “failing to learn the lessons” from the Southport attack and allowing violence-obsessed teenagers to remain a “catastrophic” threat to society, lawyers for victims of the atrocity have said ahead of the findings of an official inquiry.

A report on the July 2024 attack by the judge Sir Adrian Fulford, to be released on Monday, is expected to strongly criticise failings by a series of agencies, including the counter-terrorism programme Prevent.

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Man who groomed 14-year-old girl he met on Roblox jailed for 28 months

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Police say case highlights online dangers to children after Carlo Tritta pleads guilty to making indecent images

A man who obsessively groomed a 14-year-old girl he met through the online gaming platform Roblox has been jailed for 28 months.

Carlo Tritta, now 19, kept indecent images of the girl and travelled hundreds of miles from his home in Eastleigh, Hampshire in order to turn up, uninvited, at her home in Manchester.

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UK has detained 76 ‘age-disputed’ children under one in, one out scheme

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Concerns raised over minors placed in adult detention centres since removals began under scheme in September

More than 70 children from various conflict zones whose ages were disputed by the Home Office have been held in detention centres in the UK in preparation for forced removal to France under the government’s “one in, one out” scheme, research shows.

The one in, one out initiative means each small boat arrival can be forcibly returned to France in exchange for another person – who has not attempted the crossing – being brought to the UK legally.

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Court of appeal says it cannot rule on which identical twin fathered a child

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One twin wanted to take parental responsibility from the other for child P after both had sex with child’s mother

A woman who had sex with identical twins within four days of each other is unable to ensure one of them takes parental responsibility because it is “not possible” to know which is the father, the court of appeal has said.

One of the twins was registered as the father on the birth certificate of the child, referred to as P. His identical twin, along with the mother, sought to take over parental responsibility by asking the court of appeal to overturn a previous family court decision.

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Schools in England must be compelled to offer pupils healthy food, not junk

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School dinners have suffered at the hands of politics and economics for almost 50 years

Almost a generation has passed since Jamie Oliver’s four-part Channel 4 documentary series Jamie’s School Dinners exposed the unhealthy reality of the food served to pupils at lunchtime, including – notoriously – fat-heavy, meat-light Turkey Twizzlers. It proved a shaming and effective intervention. His ensuing Feed Me Better campaign led the then prime minister, Tony Blair, to pledge to make school lunches more nutritious and hand schools more money to do that, given the average lunch at that time cost just 45p to make.

Problem solved? Unfortunately not.

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Italy investigates beauty brands over concerns about young girls’ mental health

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Regulator fears use of ‘covert marketing strategies’ by Sephora and Benefit might fuel compulsive habits

Italian regulators are investigating Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics over the apparent use of “covert marketing strategies” to sell beauty products to young girls that might be fuelling an unhealthy skincare obsession known as “cosmeticorexia”.

The Italian Competition Authority said it was looking into promotions for skincare products such as face masks, serums and anti-ageing creams that in some cases appeared to target girls under 10.

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Keep under-fives’ screen time to no more than an hour a day, UK advice says

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Keir Starmer promises to help parents limit children’s online activity as government issues guidance to families

Children under five should spend no more than an hour a day on screens, new government advice says.

Screen time for children under two should be avoided except for shared activities encouraging interaction, families are advised.

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Brussels opens investigation into Snapchat amid concern over children’s safety

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European Commission says social messaging app is exposing children to grooming and sexual exploitation

Brussels has opened an investigation into Snapchat over concerns the social messaging app is exposing children to grooming, sexual exploitation and other criminality.

In a separate decision on Thursday, the European Commission also said four pornographic websites were failing to prevent minors seeing adult content, harming young people’s mental health and fuelling negative gender attitudes.

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MPs reject ban on social media for under-16s

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Ban could still be introduced in future after Commons back government bid to give extra powers to secretary of state

A proposed ban on social media for under-16s has been rejected by MPs.

Parliamentarians voted 307 to 173, majority 134, against the proposed change to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill, which was brought forward by Conservative peer and former minister John Nash.

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Indonesia to ban social media for children under 16

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Platforms include YouTube, TikTok and Instagram as communication minister says ‘our children face real threats’

Indonesia will ban social media for children under 16, its communication and digital affairs minister said on Friday.

Meutya Hafid said in a statement to media said that she signed a government regulation that will mean children under the age of 16 can no longer have accounts on high-risk digital platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Roblox and Bigo Live, a popular livestreaming site. With a population of about 285 million, the fourth-highest in the world, the south-east Asian nation represents a significant market for social networks.

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Louisiana mayor convicted of raping 16-year-old boy at her home while still in office

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Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after July 2024 sexual assault at pool party

The former mayor of a Louisiana city has been convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy during a party at her house while she was still in office.

Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after a jury in the municipality of DeRidder on Tuesday found her guilty of two felonies: carnal knowledge of a juvenile – or statutory rape – as well as indecent behavior with a minor.

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Labour council accuses minister of ‘moral bankruptcy’ over social care dispute

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Hartlepool leaders ‘furious and appalled’ after meeting with Steve Reed about growing cost of social care

The housing, communities and local government secretary has been accused by a Labour council of showing “arrogance, indifference and moral bankruptcy” towards children in social care.

In an unusually forthright attack, Labour leaders of Hartlepool council said they were “furious and appalled” at Steve Reed after a meeting with him last week. A cross-party delegation had asked the secretary of state for £3m to help alleviate the growing cost of social care.

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Deaths of 22 children in Channel due to ‘catastrophic failure’ by UK and France, NGO says

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Project Play finds UK taxpayers are funding ‘record child fatalities’ and ‘repeated violence’ against children in northern France

The deaths of 22 children while trying to cross the Channel in the last two years, along with the mistreatment of thousands of others, were due to “catastrophic failures” of the UK and French governments, according to a new report.

Project Play, an NGO that has worked with 2,192 children hoping to cross the Channel from northern France to the UK to claim asylum in the last two years, has documented the impact of the hostile conditions in northern France due to regular teargassing, evictions and dinghy-slashing by the French police.

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TikTok and Snapchat posts urge London pupils to join ‘school wars’ fights

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Met urges pupils not to get involved and asks platforms to ban accounts promoting ‘fights’ with images of weapons

Pupils aged 11 to 16 are being encouraged to join in school fights in posts circulating on TikTok and Snapchat, prompting police to urge children not to get involved.

The Metropolitan police have asked social media platforms to ban accounts promoting “school wars”, while headteachers have warned parents about the posts.

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Councils in England call for ‘radical’ means testing of Send school transport

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Demand is rising at unsustainable rate and could cost £3.4bn by 2030-31, local authorities warn

Families who have children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) should be means tested for school transport, according to councils in England, who say demand is rising “at an unsustainable rate”.

Local authorities are urging the government to be “radical” in its Send reforms, which are expected imminently, warning that annual costs on home-to-school transport for children with Send could rise to £3.4bn by 2030-31, up from £2bn last year.

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Police arresting 1,000 paedophile suspects a month across UK

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National Crime Agency says rise in child sexual abuse being driven by technology and online forums

Child sexual abuse in the UK is soaring, police have said, with 1,000 paedophile suspects being arrested each month and the number of children being rescued from harm rising by 50% in the last five years.

The National Crime Agency said the growth in offending across the UK was driven by technology and linked to the radicalisation of offenders in online forums, encouraging people to view images of child sexual abuse by reassuring them it was normal.

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