children

This episode of Radio 4's Woman's Hour series looks at the 100,000 children under 16 living in the UK who run away from home. We hear from a woman whose twelve year old daughter persistently ran away and was frequently returned to the family home by the police. Jill Colbert from the Safe in the City project in Salford - who works with young runaways - and John Wheeler from Childline will be joining Jenni Murray to discuss the difficulties that parents of runaways can face in accessing help.

Document laying out the full provisions of the UK Adoption and Children Act of 2002.

Bulletin investigating the quality of service provided to children and young people looked after away from home in residential services such as care homes, residential special schools and secure accommodation services with regard to their mental health and well being.

The purpose of this report is to indicate current legal thinking on children's ability to give informed consent to information sharing.

This progress map summary includes key research findings from a C4EO knowledge review about the diverse needs of different groups of disabled children and their families, and whether services are meeting these needs. The summary includes challenge questions which can be used as tools for strategic leaders in assessing, delivering and monitoring the ways in which the needs of disabled children from differentiated groups are met.

Policy makers are becoming increasingly concerned with the long term consequences of childhood experiences. This concern is fuelled by the belief that the early years of life are crucial in shaping later life. Catch them young and save society trouble later on, runs the argument. Kenan Malik asks whether policies towards young children are based on reliable scientific evidence or on political claims.

The second programme in the series looks at the work of child psychologist Jean Piaget who believed children learned through play. Subsequent experiments allowing children to imagine different social, rather than spatial, situations have had very different results. Claudia Hammond asks how far we should rely on Piaget's findings today.

This report is based on a research study carried out by The Children's Society in the West Midlands during 2007. Charities in the West Midlands have become increasingly concerned about destitution amongst children. The British Red Cross destitution clinic in the West Midlands identified an increasing number of babies, children and young people coming through the project, mainly with their parents.

While fathers can play an extremely important role in achieving positive outcomes for their children, they also face significant barriers to engaging with a range of family services. The available research shows that parental involvement is one of the most important factors in children’s achievement and adjustment and that fathers are vitally important in this.

This podcast is taken from the 'GIRFEC: Childhood, Citizenship and Children's Services' Conference held in Glasgow on the 24-26 September. Welcome and Opening Remarks and Minister's Address - Mr Adam Ingram, Minister for Children and Early Years.