Welcome to the Devon and Cornwall Police website for professionals working with children and young people

26/10/2020: ‘Generation Covid’ hit hard by the pandemic, research reveals

Young people, particularly those from deprived backgrounds, have had their earnings and job prospects hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, adding to fears for the long-term impact on their . . . futures. BBC Panorama found people aged 16-25 were more than twice as likely as older workers to have lost their job, while six in 10 saw their earnings fall, according to new research. It also highlighted the impact of school closures on young people and added to growing evidence that students from poorer backgrounds have fallen behind their more privileged peers.
BBC

22/10/2020: Children in mental health wards ‘missed-out on support during lockdown’

Children detained in hospital mental health wards during lockdown struggled to access family therapy and advocacy support, the children’s commissioner for England has warned. Children’s commissioner . . . Anne Longfield says visits to children on mental health wards from outside professionals, such as therapy and advocacy, have “dropped alarmingly”.
Children and Young People Now

22/10/2020: One in six children aged 5-16 in England ‘likely to have a mental disorder’

The probable rates of mental disorders among children and young people has increased by almost half since 2017, England’s official survey into child mental health has found, with Covid and lockdown . . . identified as aggravating factors. One in six children aged five to 16 was identified as having a probable mental disorder – five children in a class of 30 students. This was an increase from one in nine children in 2017.
Guardian

26/10/2020: Woman ‘trusted’ online predator who viewed child sexual abuse on her daughter’s computer

A woman discovered her partner was watching online child sexual abuse material on her daughter’s computer, as experts warn 1% of the entire male population could be “interested in sex with . . . prepubescent children”. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is urging people who view child sexual abuse material on the internet to seek help to change their behavior, warning about the dire consequences it has, not only on victims, but also on the offenders’ own families.
Internet Watch Foundation

19/10/2020: Cafcass reports significant increase in care applications

The number of applications for children to be taken into care rose to the highest level in four years during September, Cafcass has revealed. Cafcass received 1,499 new public law cases in September . . . featuring 2,335 children – an increase of 7.5 per cent (104 cases) and an increase of 5.7 per cent (125 children) on the 1,395 public law cases received and the 2,210 children in those cases in September 2019.
Children and Young People Now

17/10/2020: Thousands of victims of child trafficking denied right to stay in the UK

Kobe was in his final year at primary school when a drug gang recruited him. By then he’d been passed around seven different foster placements and met so many social workers he’d lost track of their . . . names. Aged 17, Kobe was identified by the UK government as a child victim of trafficking. When Theresa May became prime minister she attempted to make tackling modern slavery a legacy of her premiership. The current government has also been keen to flag its credentials. Earlier this year, the Home Office minister Victoria Atkins stated she was committed to “safeguarding victims of this horrific crime”.
Guardian

24/09/2020: Have your say on impact of virtual family court hearings and child protection conferences on practice

Dramatically overhauling entire working practices in the family justice system was not on the agenda for 2020 and, if it had been, research and evaluations would have been a core part of the design . . . process. But Covid-19 turned the system on its head. Previously inconceivable practices – from remote courtrooms to socially-distanced contact between children and parents – became the new normal overnight. Professionals had to make rapid decisions about the support that could be provided to children and families and, initially at least, these decisions had to be made in the dark.
Community Care

23/09/2020: Dark web drugs raid leads to 179 arrests

Police forces around the world have seized more than $6.5m (£5m) in cash and virtual currencies, as well as drugs and guns in a co-ordinated raid on dark web marketplaces. Some 179 people were . . . arrested across Europe and the US, and 500kg (1,102lb) of drugs and 64 guns confiscated. It ends the “golden age” of these underground marketplaces, Europol said. “The hidden internet is no longer hidden”, said Edvardas Sileris, head of Europol’s cyber-crime centre.
BBC

18/09/2020: Hub gives teens at risk of crime ‘another chance’

A new academy aims to give disadvantaged teens at risk of committing offences “another chance” in education. BIIIG Academy in Bristol will take on 20 students to train for an NVQ3 in construction from . . . October. Youth worker Anton Brown set up the centre using his own money in memory of teenager Tyrone Hayman, who was fatally stabbed in 2019. The academy will also house a music studio, kitchen and a creative hub.
BBC

21/10/2020: Online tutoring pilot effectively supported disadvantaged pupils amid school closures, study finds

Disadvantaged pupils can be effectively supported using one-to-one online tutoring during school closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic, a study has found.

Children and Young People Now

16/10/2020: Secondary school pupils unable to access school counselling, YoungMinds says

Four in 10 secondary school pupils are currently unable to access mental health support at school, new research shows. Children’s mental health charity YoungMinds found that 23 per cent of secondary . . . school pupils asked, said that there was less mental health support in their school than before the pandemic.
Children and Young People Now

04/10/2020: Special needs children ‘shut out’ of school in England due to Covid-19 rules

Almost a fifth of pupils with special education needs are absent from school, according to government figures, as parents find their children shut out by rigid coronavirus rules. According to data . . . published last week, 81% of children in England with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) at state-funded schools were in attendance on 24 September, compared with 88% of all children.
Guardian

19/10/2020: Cafcass reports significant increase in care applications

The number of applications for children to be taken into care rose to the highest level in four years during September, Cafcass has revealed. Cafcass received 1,499 new public law cases in September . . . featuring 2,335 children – an increase of 7.5 per cent (104 cases) and an increase of 5.7 per cent (125 children) on the 1,395 public law cases received and the 2,210 children in those cases in September 2019.
Children and Young People Now

05/10/2020: Joseph Rowntree Report: ‘Bolder ambition’ needed to tackle child poverty

The Scottish government needs to display “bolder ambition” if it is to meet targets for tackling child poverty, a new report has warned. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said about a million . . . people in Scotland were in poverty “living precarious and insecure lives” even before Covid hit. In many cases the pandemic will “have swept them deeper into poverty, as well as dragging others under”, it added.
BBC

25/09/2020: Quarter of childcare providers at risk of closure due to pandemic, councils warn

Up to a quarter of childcare providers in some areas are at risk of closure without the government providing more financial support during the Covid-19 pandemic, latest research shows. A study of 25 . . . members of the County Councils Network (CCN) found that 80 per cent of respondents said one in 10 childcare providers in their area were at risk of closure over the winter, with the remaining 20 per cent predicting that one in four were at risk.
Children and Young People Now

16/06/2020: Early intervention services ‘unable to cope’ as lockdown measures lift

Early intervention services could be left “unable to cope” as lockdown measures lift due to the impact of school closures and social distancing on vulnerable families, new research warns. A new report . . . by the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) and Action for Children, based on interviews with professionals across the children’s services sector, finds that the “knock-on effect” of the coronavirus pandemic on early help services will have a “profound” impact on families not eligible for local authority support.
Children and Young People Now

01/05/2020: Police need ACE training to better understand impact of child violence, study says

Police officers should be trained in understanding the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on young people in order to tackle an increase in child to parent violence, new research suggests. . . . A report commissioned by Northumbria Police, Policing Childhood Challenging Violent or Aggressive Behaviour: responding to vulnerable families, makes the recommendation as part of a wider strategy to help its police officers better understand the causes of child to parent violence.
Children and Young People Now

10/04/2020: How does a traumatic event impact child behaviour?

“Children do make choices to misbehave,” states professor Essi Viding, “but the tools they bring to make the choices are different. Someone who has very stable developmental history is making a . . . particular choice with a completely different toolkit than a child who has an unpredictable developmental history.”
Times Education Supplement

26/10/2020: Woman ‘trusted’ online predator who viewed child sexual abuse on her daughter’s computer

A woman discovered her partner was watching online child sexual abuse material on her daughter’s computer, as experts warn 1% of the entire male population could be “interested in sex with . . . prepubescent children”. The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) is urging people who view child sexual abuse material on the internet to seek help to change their behavior, warning about the dire consequences it has, not only on victims, but also on the offenders’ own families.
Internet Watch Foundation

24/10/2020: Porn effects: ‘My expectations of sex and body image were warped’

“My expectation for what sex was supposed to be like was so warped.” For Nicki Briant, 25, pornography left her with negative feelings about sex, a lingering sense of inadequacy and a “tarnished” body . . . image. Children’s charity Plan UK and the Institute of Psychosexual Medicine have called for the dangers of porn to be taught in schools. The Welsh government said it was looking at how porn should be considered in its new curriculum.
BBC

14/10/2020: ‘Game-changing’ chatbot to target people trying to access child sexual abuse online

A “game-changing” new interactive chatbot will interrupt people trying to access online child sexual abuse material to get them to change their ways. Today (October 14) the End Violence Fund will . . . announce the funding grant for the new Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) reThink chatbot which the charity has been developing. The Internet Watch Foundation is the UK charity responsible for finding and removing images and videos of children suffering sexual abuse from the internet.
Internet Watch Foundation