Latest news with #vulnerablechildren
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Sark man jailed over multiple child sexual offences
A man who travelled to the UK with the intention of meeting an underage girl has been jailed for 12 years for multiple child sexual Solowan, 40, pleaded guilty to 12 charges after he was arrested in Sark on 16 December charges included the intended sexual activity rape of a child under 13 and the indented sexual activity rape and sexual touching of a child under said they found a "significant number" of indecent images of children on devices seized at his property and evidence he had tried to meet another child in the UK. In October 2024, Solowan travelled to the UK intending to meet a person he believed to be a 12-year-old girl, but no meeting took place, said said Solowan also engaged in online chats with an individual claiming to be a 14-year-old girl, but investigations later confirmed this was an adult male who was living in had booked flights to Manchester in November 2024, believing he would meet the child, police these conversations, he also discussed plans to meet other girls, resulting in four further charges, officers Police said it would "relentlessly pursue" those who try to exploit young people."Our priority is keeping our community safe, and by taking swift action we have prevented potential harm to vulnerable individuals," said the force."The charges brought towards this individual reflect the seriousness of the offences."
ABC News
3 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Foster carers don't do it for cash, but NSW budget investment could make real difference
There was little cause for delight among Treasurer Daniel Mookhey's budget revelations. No exciting promises about shiny new metros. No new handouts to ease the pressure on household budgets. No credible path to achieving housing targets in New South Wales, although a $1 billion fund to improve supply will provide a welcome boost. The government is stabilising debt and forecasting a surplus in 2027/28, the first in almost a decade. But that won't exactly thrill voters. Ahead of every budget, treasurers are inundated with worthy funding requests and often those with the loudest voices win. So, it's significant that this time around, the government is helping those who can't speak up for themselves — the state's most vulnerable children. The NSW out-of-home care system is the biggest in the southern hemisphere, according to the government, with 14,000 children in the care of the state. Last year, a landmark report revealed the depths of despair it had sunk to. A chronic shortage of foster carers had pushed more and more children into temporary accommodation like motels and caravan parks, often under the supervision of unaccredited workers from labour hire firms. The Advocate for Children and Young People detailed the squalid conditions some children endured, like cockroach infestations and having no access to shower facilities. One child said they felt like a "doggy in the pound pretty much, moving cage to cage". The record $1.2 billion investment announced on Tuesday aimed to turn the system around. The government has already made solid progress by removing children from motels and will now use some of the new funding to attract more foster carers. Cole and Gina Young, from Rooty Hill, have fostered many children over ten years. They're currently caring for a 6-month-old boy who they welcomed into their home straight from hospital. Mr Young said anyone considering becoming a foster carer shouldn't hesitate. "It'll be the hardest thing you ever do in your life," he said. "We all see on TV kids without a home, without a roof over their head in different countries and we say how horrible that is," he said. "This is Australia and we've got kids like that here." Families and Communities Minister Kate Washington said carers young and old, single or married, could become a carer. "If you have got room in your home and your heart, please consider becoming a foster carer. We will support you," she said. A tax-free allowance will rise by 20 per cent, meaning the carer of a typical 14-year old will receive more than $1,000 per fortnight. As families face their own cost-of-living pressures, it will still be a major challenge to recruit enough carers. People don't foster children for the money, but the new support will certainly help. The funding package includes nearly $50 million for government-owned care homes. There's also more than $190 million to recruit more than 200 new caseworkers and retain existing workers with higher pay. Andrea Cartwright, a child protection worker from Ingleburn, said caseworkers experience chronic burnout and stress, with lack of staff meaning they can't perform the necessary welfare checks on children who might be at risk. "Hopefully now with this new announcement that's all going to change," Ms Cartwright said. "We're no longer the government's dirty little secret." As with foster carers, there are no guarantees the government will succeed in its recruitment drive for caseworkers, but it's sending a clear signal that it values people doing difficult jobs. The funding package is a significant win for Ms Washington who has fought hard within government to repair the crumbling child protection sector. It'll be an even bigger win for the thousands of children who rely on it.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- BBC News
Sentence of child abuser from Bloxwich referred to appeal court
The sentence given to a teaching assistant who sexually abused children with special educational needs and disabilities has been referred to the Court of Appeal. Daniel Clarke, 29, of Bloxwich near Walsall, was jailed in May for seven years and six months, after admitting sexual offences against six vulnerable children. The Solicitor General, Lucy Rigby KC MP, said she could only properly refer a case to the Court of Appeal if she considered the sentence appeared unduly lenient and "it appears to me that this test is met".Conservative MP for Meriden and Solihull East Saqib Bhatti has said he had written to the attorney general and asked for Clarke's sentence to be reviewed. Clarke may have targeted "well over 81" vulnerable young people over a decade, according to detectives overseeing a West Midlands Police his trial, prosecuting barrister Daniel Oscroft said the defendant had worked as a teaching assistant at a school in Solihull and, separately, as a personal assistant to several said he would like to thank parents of victims for contacting unduly lenient sentence scheme allows anyone to ask for certain crown court sentences to be reviewed by the Attorney General's Office if they think the sentence is too a letter to the MP, the solicitor general, who said she was responding on the attorney's behalf, stated she shared Bhatti's concerns about the sentence added: "I can only properly refer a case to the Court of Appeal if I consider that the sentence appears not just lenient, but unduly lenient."After careful consideration, I have decided to refer this case to the Court of Appeal as it appears to me that this test is met."Rigby added the court would decide in due course whether the sentence was unduly lenient "and, if so, whether to substitute the existing sentence with a new one". Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Telegraph
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Muslim leaders must speak out against the horrific grooming gangs
Dame Louise Casey's review is a no-nonsense set of findings from someone who always gets to the bottom of things. I have experience of working with Casey some years ago, when she was reviewing extremism and its impacts on social cohesion. She was tough talking, meticulous, caring and committed to social justice; she's a determined campaigner and this is why her work must always be taken seriously. Casey's review on the grooming gangs has found that where the ethnicity of the suspects was recorded, such as in Greater Manchester and in West and South Yorkshire, the facts showed that white girls were predominantly abused by Asian men of Pakistani heritage. The lack of action by statutory authorities was based on a fear of being called racist; they placed the protection of social cohesion above the lives of vulnerable children. Whilst there is nothing wrong with trying to do good in society, the sentiments were completely misplaced: young girls were 'adultified', in Casey's words, and they were blamed for their own actions when they were only can't get away, nor can anyone miss, the glaringly obvious point that Casey repeatedly mentions in her report: that there is an over-representation of Asian men of Pakistani heritage amongst the men who abused and raped vulnerable white girls. This didn't come out of a vacuum. Sermons in British mosques around child safeguarding, the promotion of equality for women and girls, and the need to tackle misogyny could possibly have changed things if they existed some two decades ago. Yet, even to this day, these matters are not discussed by many imams and religious leaders in the UK. Having worked for over two decades in British Muslim communities, I am aware of the problem of misogyny within them. Many Muslim women are trying to challenge patriarchy but are constantly lectured on their dress sense through the association of piety with 'covering up'. The responsibility in Islam, (and I speak as a Muslim), seems to lie wholly on the shoulders of women around their bodies. This needs to change; there are many historical instances in Islamic history of women leaders who have challenged men. This is important because mosques have a key role in shaping and changing the behaviours of many Muslim men in the thirty five to sixty age bracket, where many of the child offenders sit within. After Casey's report, there is an added impetus for imams and mosque committees to make child safeguarding and women's rights front and centre in their sermons. For too long I have heard them talk about foreign affairs or discuss issues of no real relevance to the lives of Muslim men and women in Britain. Casey's report is a stark wake up call for things to change. Muslim leaders need to stand with the women who had their lives shattered when they were girls by Asian men of Pakistani heritage. These men lived split lives, some acting as if they were holier than holy, yet their actions demonstrated that they were monsters who could not spare an ounce of empathy for vulnerable children. Such actions happen because religious, political and social leadership in British Muslim communities have failed to speak up to protect the weakest in our society.
BBC News
12-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Children's home in residential Northampton cul-de-sac approved
A five-bedroom home in a cul-de-sac will be turned into a small children's home despite objections from Northamptonshire Council approved the proposal to transform a home in Blossac Court, Duston, Northampton, into a residence that would care for three vulnerable children aged five to conversion, put forward by applicant Neil Verlander, received 76 objections from members of the public and there were calls at the planning meeting for its planning papers, the applicant Mr Verlander said the new home would be a "nurturing, warm and welcoming" environment for vulnerable young people. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, many objections have arisen from the perceived threat to the noise levels, parking issues and disturbances to other homes' on behalf of the applicant, social worker Kelly McFayden said: "I do understand, having looked at all of the feedback, that people are frightened about who's going to live next door- if they're going to be young offenders, if they're going to bring antisocial behaviour."We get to choose the young people and children that we offer opportunity to."The council's highways team also did not raise any objections to the number of parking spaces provided, stating that the four driveway spaces would be able to accommodate all staff members and would not have a significant impact on the local highway committee unanimously voted to approve the application last week, in line with the officer's recommendation. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
