Category Archives: Children

‘No roof, no seats, no desks’: photographing Yemen’s conflict-hit schools

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Years of fighting mean children as old as 10 have never been to school. Khaled Ziad’s images document a generation whose entire future is at risk

Their classroom has no roof, no seats, no desks; most of the 50 small children sitting on the rubble-strewn floor have no pens or paper. But the students in this makeshift school in Hays, a village in Yemen’s Hodeidah province, are still among the luckiest in the country simply for having a teacher and a place to learn.

Seven years into a catastrophic war that sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, Yemen’s conflict shows no signs of ending soon, and the future of an entire generation is at risk of being destroyed. About 3 million children are unable to attend school, according to the Red Cross, with 8.1 million needing urgent educational assistance.

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Asylum-seeking children in UK at risk of self-harm and suicide, charities warn

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Figures reveal child refugees who arrived on their own are waiting longer than adults for Home Office decision

Children who have arrived in the UK on their own to seek asylum are at risk of self-harm and dying by suicide, according to 25 child and migrant rights organisations, as figures reveal they are waiting longer than adults for a decision on their claim.

The warning, in a letter to safeguarding institutions, including the children’s commissioner and the chief social worker, said the risk was “exacerbated by Home Office failures to decide the children’s asylum claims”.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.

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Teacher and partner jailed after they filmed themselves abusing girl

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Julie Morris, who was head of safeguarding at primary school, admitted 18 child sexual abuse offences

A deputy headteacher and her partner have been jailed for child sexual abuse offences after they filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl.

Julie Morris, a teacher who was also head of safeguarding at a primary school in Wigan, was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison after she pleaded guilty to 18 child sexual abuse offences, including two counts of rape.

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‘The need is still there’: last young refugees arrive in UK as family reunion route closes

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Activists lament that a safe, legal way into Britain has closed with Brexit, when stranded children need it as much as ever

‘When I was a child in Afghanistan I loved to watch my uncle play chess. Now I have joined the local club here.” Samir is grinning as he talks about settling into life on England’s south coast. “I’m very happy here, just being with my family, going for walks to look at the Christmas lights. It’s really beautiful.”

After arriving in Greece alone two years ago, when he was just 16, and spending many months homeless and terrified in the port city of Patras, Samir recently made a journey that most refugees can only dream about. He said goodbye to the friends he had made in a camp for unaccompanied minors – other teenagers from Somalia, Iraq and Palestine – and travelled safely and legally to join his father and sister in the UK.

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‘A lot fell into place’: the adults who discovered they were autistic – after their child was diagnosed

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The recorded incidence of autism has increased 787% in 20 years. For many parents, getting help for an autistic child alerted them to their own traits

When John Purnell’s 10-year-old son was diagnosed as autistic, he knew exactly how to respond. “I’ve always been fascinated by research, by detail, by finding out everything there is to find out about something,” he says. “So I did a really deep dive.”

As he pored over academic papers and delved into medical science – including how many autistic people have a propensity and appetite for copious research – an unexpected realisation crept into his mind. “I was reading about the traits of an autistic person, the difficulties they often have in social situations, the need for order and planning: and suddenly I thought: this person they’re describing isn’t just my son – it’s me.”

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‘They punished me for having books’: schools in Cameroon terrorised by armed groups

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Human Rights Watch says armed separatists in anglophone regions have made schools a battleground, with hundreds of school pupils and teachers attacked, kidnapped or threatened

Armed separatists in Cameroon’s anglophone regions have attacked, kidnapped and threatened hundreds of school pupils in nearly five years of violence that has forced more than 230,000 children to flee their homes, a report has found.

In a detailed analysis of the conflict that has gripped the English-speaking regions since 2017, dozens of students and teachers speak of brutal attacks by armed groups who have made education a battleground in their fight to form their own state.

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Why UK has been less keen than US to give Covid jab to children

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Differing adult uptakes, healthcare systems and cultures of medicine have played role in approaches

The UK and US may have many things in common, but when it comes to vaccinating children against Covid, the approach has been markedly different.

In May, the US Food and Drug Administration’s emergency use authorisation of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab was expanded from people aged 16 and older to those aged 12 to 15, with two doses recommended for all those eligible.

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What burns beneath: the deadly threat of underground coal fires to children in Zimbabwe

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Alisha was eight when she died after being badly burned near a coal mine in Hwange. Families who live in fear of the ground opening up under their children’s feet say more must be done


Alisha Muzvite was out playing when she was caught short and went behind a bush to go to the toilet. But as the eight-year-old crouched down, the ground beneath her shifted, pulling her into one of the underground fires which burn all around her home in Hwange in north-west Zimbabwe.

An aunt pulled her to safety, but Alisha’s legs were so badly burned that they had to be amputated. More than a month after the accident, the little girl died of her injuries.

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Star Hobson verdict: mother’s girlfriend found guilty of murdering toddler

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Amateur boxer punched 16-month-old to death in Keighley, West Yorkshire, while mother found guilty of allowing the death

A “cunning and clever” woman has been found guilty of murdering her girlfriend’s toddler after being caught on CCTV “terrorising” the child when she was left to babysit.

Savannah Brockhill, 28, an amateur boxer and security guard who called herself the “number one psycho”, punched 16-month Star Hobson to death in Keighley, West Yorkshire, on 22 September 2020.

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Urgent action needed to halt trafficking of children in world’s orphanages – report

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Millions of children worldwide are at risk of abuse and exploitation in institutions, often to attract funding from donors, says Lumos charity

Immediate action must be taken to prevent trafficking and exploitation of children in orphanages, according to a report published on Monday.

International children’s charity Lumos says that an estimated 5.4 million children worldwide live in institutions that cannot meet their needs and neglect their rights and where they are exposed to multiple forms of exploitation and harm.

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How to teach children the real value of money

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A study has shown that by the age of seven they can grasp the lessons they need to learn to avoid financial problems in the future

The early experiences children have with money can shape their financial behaviour as adults, according to a study published by the UK government’s MoneyHelper service. By the age of seven, the University of Cambridge study found, most children are capable of grasping the value of money, delaying gratification and understanding that some choices are irreversible or will cause them problems in the future. The research suggests children who are allowed to make age-appropriate financial decisions and experience spending or saving dilemmas can form positive “habits of the mind” when it comes to money. This could lead to a lifelong improvement in their ability to plan ahead and be reflective in their thinking about money, or they may learn how to regulate their impulses and emotions in a way that promotes positive financial behaviour later in life.

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‘My son’s birthday party is off’ – the sacrifices UK parents are making to save Christmas

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Families tell of their ‘heartbreak’ as parties and other social plans are cancelled in the wake of Omicron

’Tis the season to be jolly, and last week Marieke Navin and her boyfriend were planning to attend three Christmas parties between them. But now, following the rise of the Omicron variant, they are not going to any.

“I was looking forward to those parties,” said Navin. “But my priority is protecting Christmas. I don’t want my children to be isolating in their room on Christmas Day, or be unable to visit their dad or my parents. I don’t want my partner’s kids to be unable to come to us on Boxing Day. I don’t want to jeopardise the movement of the children, and I don’t want anyone being poorly over Christmas.”

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‘They see it in corridors, in bathrooms, on the bus’: UK schools’ porn crisis

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Frontline workers warn how children as young as seven are being bombarded with harmful online sexual material

Barnardo’s works directly with children who are victims of abuse or display signs of harmful or risky sexual behaviour. In 2020-21, they worked with 382,872 children, young people, parents and carers.

In a recent survey of their frontline workers across England and Wales, staff reported a rise in the number of children participating in acts they have seen in pornographic videos, despite feeling uncomfortable or scared. They describe porn as having a “corrosive” effect on child wellbeing.

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How can children in the UK be protected from seeing online pornography?

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As concern grows among experts about the impact on children of seeing pornographic images, how can access be restricted?

Why are children’s safety groups calling for age verification on porn sites?
They fear it is too easy for children to access publicly available pornography online. Experts who work with children say pornography gives children unhealthy views of sex and consent, putting them at risk from predators and possibly stopping them reporting abuse.

It can also lead to children behaving in risky or age-inappropriate ways, harming themselves and others. Charities say children tell them that pornography is difficult to avoid and can leave them feeling ashamed and distressed. One concern is the extreme nature of porn on mainstream sites, with one study showing that one in eight videos seen by first-time visitors showed violent or coercive content.

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Campaigners threaten UK legal action over porn sites’ lack of age verification

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Exclusive: failure to prevent children seeing online porn puts them at risk of abuse and lifelong trauma, say children’s safety group

The UK data watchdog must introduce age verification for commercial pornography sites or face a high court challenge over any failure to act, children’s safety groups have warned.

The demand in a letter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) states that the government’s failure to stop children seeing porn is causing lifelong trauma and putting children at risk of abuse and exploitation. It urges the ICO to use the powers under the recently introduced age appropriate design code (AADC) to introduce rigorous age-checking procedures for publicly accessible porn sites.

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Don’t be fooled by deceitful parents, top child expert warns social workers

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Professionals urged to be more sceptical and ready to remove at-risk children after death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes

Social workers need to be more sceptical and decisive when confronted by “manipulative and deceitful” parents, one of the UK’s leading child protection experts has urged following the torture and killing of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes at the hands of his stepmother and father.

Martin Narey, a former head of children’s charity Barnardo’s and senior government adviser, said social services should view potentially abusive parents “more critically” and not shy away from taking children into care.

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School bullies to face jail under law approved by French MPs

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Draft legislation also proposes maximum fine of €150,000 in most serious cases

The French parliament has voted to make school bullying a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison, as MPs said society needed a wake-up call on the seriousness of children targeting their peers.

The proposed law was supported by Emmanuel Macron’s education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer.

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Mother jailed for harming baby hits out at ‘unjust’ appeal ruling

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Lawyers and campaigners fear decision not to grant appeal against conviction risks silencing other victims of domestic abuse

A mother jailed for harming her baby has accused the courts of “injustice” after judges accepted she was a victim of abuse but ruled against an application for an appeal against her conviction made on the grounds that her violent ex-partner coerced her to lie at her trial.

The woman, known as “Jenny”, was convicted in 2017 of causing or allowing serious harm after her child sustained skull fractures and bleeding on the brain. The baby’s father was her co-defendant but was acquitted on a lesser charge.

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Average of two girls aged 10 to 14 give birth daily in Paraguay, Amnesty finds

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Longstanding plague of child abuse and extreme abortion laws fuel crisis, report says

An average of two girls between 10 and 14 give birth every day in Paraguay, thanks to a toxic combination of widespread child abuse and draconian abortion laws, according to a new Amnesty International report.

Paraguay has one of the highest rates of child and teen pregnancy in Latin America, a region that, as a whole, has the second-highest rates in the world.

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‘Shocking’ that UK is moving child refugees into hotels

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Children’s Society criticises practice of placing unaccompanied minors in hotels with limited care

Record numbers of unaccompanied child asylum seekers who arrived in the UK on small boats are being accommodated in four hotels along England’s south coast, a situation that the Children’s Society has described as “shocking”.

About 250 unaccompanied children who arrived in small boats are thought to be accommodated in hotels, which Ofsted said was an unacceptable practice.

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