Summary of current issues and research – Welfare reform to hit NI children; How drugs change my child’s life; Schoolboy accuses classmates of antisemitic assault; Schoolboy accuses classmates of antisemitic assault; Northern Ireland’s nursery school policy has ‘created misery and chaos for thousands of families’; Two thirds of schoolchildren ‘not getting enough sleep’; Couples face child benefit quiz; Voluntary sector cannot plug gaps; Families face jail for failing to report sex abuse; Teenage plus: Adolescence now lasts until the age of 24; Britain has world’s third highest proportion of sexually active teens
Welfare reform to hit NI children
BBC – New research finds the Welfare Reform Bill will hit children in Northern Ireland harder than those any other region outside London.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17846455
How drugs change my child’s life
A County Antrim woman speaks of how drugs turned her happy child into a withdrawn and agitated teenager.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17817719
Schoolboy accuses classmates of antisemitic assault
Guardian – A Northern Irish schoolboy has suffered antisemitic abuse and a physical attack after a chance remark during a Holocaust history lesson, his family has claimed. The mother of Matthew Lough, 14, says he has had to take time off from Carrickfergus http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/25/schoolboy-antisemitic-assault-northern-ireland?newsfeed=true
Northern Ireland’s nursery school policy has ‘created misery and chaos for thousands of families’
Belfast Telegraph – Policy on preschool provision has created misery and chaos for thousands of families across Northern Ireland, angry Assembly Members have warned. MLAs warned that working families are being disadvantaged — because admissions criteria favour children from socially-disadvantaged backgrounds — and backed an Alliance motion for immediate action to end the confusion and heartache. Some parents seeking a pre-school place for their offspring who live in Ballymena were offered a place in Carrickfergus.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/education/northern-irelands-nursery-school-policy-has-created-misery-and-chaos-for-thousands-of-families-16149344.html
Two thirds of schoolchildren ‘not getting enough sleep’
Independent.ie – The average six year old does not go to bed until after 9.30pm, according to a survey that suggests as many as two thirds of children are not getting enough sleep.
The problem is so serious that over a quarter of youngsters claim they cannot concentrate in school and even fall asleep in class at least once a week.
http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/education/latest-news/two-thirds-of-schoolchildren-not-getting-enough-sleep-3088883.html
Couples face child benefit quiz
BBC – HM Revenue and Customs will expect high earners to quiz their partners to find out if they claim child benefit.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17838735
Voluntary sector cannot plug gaps
BBC – The Department of Health is warned it must not expect the voluntary sector to plug gaps in services that the government is unable to fund.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-17850259
Families face jail for failing to report sex abuse
Irish Times – Family memberscould face prosecution if they fail to report evidence of sexual abuse or other serious offences against children to the Garda under proposed new laws. In addition, any sports club, faith-based organisation or voluntary group with access to children could be shut down if they fail to implement guidelines for the reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0426/1224315196167.html
Teenage plus: Adolescence now lasts until the age of 24
Independent.ie – They should be the healthiest people on the planet, the “almost grown ups” still in the bloom of youth and full of dreams for the future.
But today’s adolescents are instead a troubled generation, marooned in a no man’s land between childhood and adulthood, prey to forces beyond their control.
Far from being the healthiest time of life, adolescence is instead a period of maximum risk and maximum vulnerability according to scientists, as still-growing bodies and undeveloped minds hurl themselves into experimentation with drink, drugs and sex.
Britain has world’s third highest proportion of sexually active teens
Guardian – UK ranks badly among high-income nations for harmful teenage drinking, according to study in Lancet medical journal.
Britain has the third-highest proportion of teenagers who are sexually active at an early age and also ranks badly among high-income nations for harmful teenage drinking, according to a series of studies published in the Lancet medical journal on Tuesday.
The research, plus a report by Unicef, call for more attention to be paid to the changing needs of the young, warning they are at risk of mental and physical illness, vulnerable to unhealthy product marketing and that too many will die early.
The studies found neglect across the globe, including in affluent countries such as Britain and the US. Among 40 countries with broadly comparable data, England had the fourth-highest number of adolescents who had been drunk by the age of 13. Wales came fifth and Scotland eighth. Wales had the third-highest number of 15-year-olds who drank every week, with England fourth and Scotland again eighth.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/apr/25/uk-third-highest-proportion-sexually-active-teens