October 2002
Sir Ronald Waterhouse wrote an interesting piece, looking back to the publication of his massive report, Lost in Care. It was 937 pages long with 72 recommendations, and we confess that we have not read it in its entirety yet. It had been published two and a half years earlier, and Sir Ronald – although pleased about the action which had been taken by then, especially in Wales – was concerned about the apparent lack of concern about standards in residential child care. We hope that the current Green Paper meets his concerns. His article is not long, but it gives an excellent picture of the way that developments proceed, and the real need for people like Sir Ronald to keep on pressing till action is taken.
November 2002
Under the heading Providing Security, Terry Hoon took a critical look at the Government’s approach to adoption. This has been one of Tony Blair’s personal crusades, and the increase in the number of adoptions in recent years is quoted in the Green Paper as a sign of success. If adoption goes well, it is an excellent choice for the child, but we identify with Terry’s concerns, and shall be interested to see the long-term outcomes before we are happy that the Government’s pushing of adoption has been a real success.
December 2002
“What’s in a Name?” asked Keith White in the In Residence column, and in a thoughtful piece he considered the various titles used for children’s services, and the implications of the language. In the same issue, under the title What’s in a Surname? Nigel Gosden considered all the problems associated with children’s surnames being changed. Names may no longer have the significance they had in Old Testament times, when they represented the essence of the place or person, but they still carry powerful messages. Do you remember Consignia?
The Webmag has been going for seven years now, and we must have published over a thousand articles. Who refers to the musty piles of back numbers of hard copy magazines?
The Webmag articles are all there at the touch of the Back Issues button. Modern technology makes them available. But unless you are using a search engine, you might not think of rooting through our past issues, and if you are a new reader, you certainly won’t remember the pieces when they came out.
There are some really good articles published years ago but still worth looking at, and this column pinpoints a few of them.