Category Archives: Children

Irish school abuse inquiry should cover ‘leathering’, survivors say

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Former pupils of Catholic schools say corporal punishment was ‘hourly occurence’ in 60s and 70s

The Irish government has been urged to extend the scope of a statutory inquiry into historical child abuse in schools to include corporal punishment, including a practice known as “leathering”.

Survivors of physical assault in Catholic schools have complained they were told there was no scope to include corporal punishment in an investigation into sexual abuse, announced in September.

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Scheme to boost French school trips to Britain ‘at risk’ under new UK entry rules

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Trade body for France’s travel industry reportedly writes to UK home secretary over concerns for programme’s future

A scheme designed to boost the numbers of French children able to travel to Britain for school trips is reportedly in peril as a result of an overhaul of entry requirements in the UK.

New rules for French school trips were introduced in December last year after a meeting between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the then UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

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Comedian Joe Lycett says he has become father of a baby boy

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TV presenter praises and thanks staff at Birmingham women’s hospital for ‘exceptional’ care his partner received

The comedian Joe Lycett has announced he has become a father to a baby boy.

Lycett, 36, shared a picture on Instagram of him holding the infant, whom he said was born at Birmingham women’s hospital.

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Trans children’s charity told to rewrite guidance on puberty blockers

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Charity Commission investigation also said there had been mismanagement within Mermaids

A charity supporting gender-questioning young people has been told to rewrite its guidance about the risks of puberty blockers, after a two-year Charity Commission investigation, which also concluded that there had been mismanagement within the organisation.

However, the investigation found that the charity, Mermaids, had appropriate safeguarding policies in place and there was no evidence that it provided medical advice to children, which would have been outside its remit.

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Special educational needs bill in England hits record £10bn a year

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National Audit Office report finds no signs of improvement in lives of pupils despite record spending

The bill for special needs education in England has hit £10bn a year, with the number of children and young people entitled to government support in the form of education, health and care plans set to double to 1 million within a decade, a landmark report has found.

The investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) found that despite record levels of spending there had been no signs of improvement in the lives of children with special educational needs (SEN).

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Norway to increase minimum age limit on social media to 15 to protect children

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Prime minister wants young people to be shielded from ‘power of the algorithm’

Norway is to enforce a strict minimum age limit on social media of 15 as the government ramped up its campaign against tech companies it says are “pitted against small children’s brains”.

The Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, conceded it would be “an uphill battle” but said politicians must intervene to protect children from the “power of the algorithms”.

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Surrogacy ring accused of exploiting vulnerable women in Argentina

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Prosecutors say ‘criminal enterprise’ charged foreign couples $50,000 and denied payments for miscarriages

An international surrogacy ring exploited impoverished women, denied payments for miscarriages, and “commercialised” babies in Argentina, prosecutors have alleged.

A team of prosecutors said they had discovered a “criminal enterprise” which has been charging foreign couples about $50,000 for a baby born by surrogacy in Argentina.

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Schools in Mexico have six months to ban junk food sales or face heavy fines

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Rules targeting fruit drinks, chips and artificial pork rinds come as UN calls child obesity in country an emergency

Schools in Mexico have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines, officials said on Monday, as authorities confront what they call the worst childhood obesity problem in the world.

The new rules target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican school kids: sugary fruit drinks, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chili.

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Ban smacking in England now, says children’s commissioner

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Rachel de Souza makes strongest intervention yet as three relatives go on trial for murder of Sara Sharif, the 10-year-old who allegedly suffered two years of abuse by her father

Ministers must ban smacking now, the children’s commissioner for England has said, in her strongest intervention yet on child safety.

Rachel de Souza said that banning smacking was “a necessary step” to keep children safe, and that bans in Scotland and Wales had “taught us we need to take that step in England too”, adding “now is the time to go further”.

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Children being traumatised at Gatwick deportation centre, finds watchdog

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Assessment finds detention unit is subjecting families to ‘unnecessary suffering’ amid lengthy Home Office delays

Young children are being traumatised while held at a Gatwick airport deportation centre that should be closed down, a watchdog has found.

The independent monitoring board (IMB) also said the children’s parents were being subjected to “callous treatment and unnecessary suffering” because of the Home Office’s lengthy decision-making process over removals.

Children are witnessing or overhearing their parents’ “considerable distress” at their expected deportation, despite staff efforts to shield them.

Children are being asked by staff to translate for their distraught parents, despite having been taken from their homes and facing removal to a country they may know very little about.

The use of the Family PDA may prolong or add to trauma already experienced, particularly for children.

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Record $8m compensation for victim of paedophile teacher at infamous Victorian public school

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Former Beaumaris primary school student will receive biggest known payout by a state government to a sexual abuse survivor in Australia

A sexual abuse survivor from an infamous Victorian public school will receive a record $8m settlement from the education department, and the state government could be on the hook for more compensation.

The former student was sexually abused at Beaumaris primary school by Darrell Ray, one of four paedophiles who taught at the school in Melbourne’s south-east in the 60s and 70s.

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More than 9 million Britons vulnerable to reliance on food banks, research finds

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One million more people are in what Trussell charity defines as ‘hunger and hardship’ than five years ago

More than 9 million people in the UK experience levels of poverty and hunger so extreme they are vulnerable to reliance on charity food handouts, according to research.

A report by the charity Trussell found Labour would fail to deliver its manifesto promise to remove the “moral scar” of food banks unless it tackled low household incomes in this group, which amounted to one in seven of the population.

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US states sue TikTok, claiming its addictive features harm youth mental health

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States and District of Columbia allege platform’s ‘dopamine-inducing’ algorithm can lead to anxiety and depression

More than a dozen states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against TikTok on Tuesday, alleging the popular short-form video app is harming youth mental health by designing its platform to be addictive to kids.

The lawsuits stem from a national investigation into TikTok, which was launched in March 2022 by a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from many states, including California, Kentucky and New Jersey. All of the complaints were filed in state courts.

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School starters born during pandemic lack communication skills, Ofsted says

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English primary schools having to help infants catch up on speech and language to cope with lessons

Primary schools are having to teach infants how to communicate, as they struggle to make friends or cope with lessons because of speech and language difficulties, according to a report by Ofsted.

The research by Ofsted inspectors, based on visits to schools in England rated as good or outstanding, found that the Covid pandemic “is still having an impact on children’s behaviour and social skills”.

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‘Fear of missing out’ keeping girls and young women online despite sexism

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Almost half of girls aged 11 to 21 in Girlguiding survey say sexism and misogyny makes them feel less safe

Girls and young women are seeing more unwanted sexual images and suffering more cyberstalking online, but still don’t want to take a break from social media because of a fear of missing out, a survey for Girlguiding has found.

“Fomo” is keeping more than half of 11- to 21-year-olds on apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and WhatsApp despite nearly one in five saying they have been being stalked online and more than a third saying they are seeing sexual images they didn’t wish to see, the survey of more than 2,000 girls and young women found.

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UK toddlers get nearly half their calories from ultra-processed food, study finds

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Review also finds by the time children are seven, 59% of calories come from UPFs

Toddlers in the UK obtain almost half of their calories from ultra-processed foods, rising to 59% by the age of seven, according to the largest study of its kind.

The first comprehensive review of dietary intake at such an early age comes amid rapidly rising global consumption of UPF such as cereals, protein bars, fizzy drinks, ready meals and fast food. The findings were published in the European Journal of Nutrition.

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Children in youth offender institutions in England denied access to education, report finds

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Joint review by chief of Ofsted and prisons chief inspector discovers children kept in cells to avoid conflict

Children in youth offender institutions (YOIs) are being denied access to education, with too many being kept in their cells as staff struggle to keep warring youngsters apart, a damning new report has found.

It documents a worrying decline in the quality and quantity of education provided to 15 to 18-year-olds in YOIs over the last decade despite a sharp drop in the number of children being held in custody.

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Major fears over Labour’s nursery plan for 9-month-olds in schools

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Early years experts warn of lack of staff, playgrounds and toilets

Primary schools may not have enough space, specialist facilities or staff to deliver the 100,000 new nursery places in England that the government has promised, early childhood experts have warned.

Labour is under intense pressure to create enough places to fulfil its promise of 30 hours of free childcare a week for eligible parents of children from the age of nine months to three years from next September – a commitment inherited from the previous government.

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‘Chucky goes north’: Rochdale reacts to arrival of ‘creepy’ giant baby

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Lilly, an 8.5-metre tall puppet designed to help children talk about the environment, provokes mixed response

They say it is rude to comment on a baby’s appearance but that has not stopped the residents of Rochdale, who awoke on Wednesday to a “freaky” new arrival.

Lilly, an 8.5-metre tall puppet designed to help children talk about the environment, went on display in the town centre to a somewhat bewildered response.

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Albanese government to launch storybook to teach children from culturally diverse backgrounds about consent

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My Superhero Voice, which will be available online, is careful not to single out a particular religion or culture

The Australian government will launch a storybook aimed at teaching children from multicultural backgrounds about body safety and consent on Wednesday, but experts say “there is still more to do”.

The book, titled My Superhero Voice, is part of the government’s One Talk at a Time campaign, aimed at preventing child sexual abuse. It was developed by the National Office for Child Safety and consulting agency Cultural Perspectives.

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