Some news!

NEW REPORT: Children with special educational needs and disabilities in kinship care are being let down by two complex systems at once. "Fighting Two Battles" — a new report from the APPG on Kinship Care, supported by @familyrightsgp.bsky.social 🧵

6/6 Find out more about Lifelong Links and our Build Not Break campaign: frg.org.uk/lifelong-lin...

Big news for children in care. The Government has announced £8.4 million to help children in care build lifelong, loving relationships — our Lifelong Links approach is central to that mission.

Big news! After 13 years of campaigning, children and young people in care will finally have a legal right to reasonable contact with their brothers and sisters. Watch our Chief Executive, Cathy Ashley, welcome this new landmark right.

Ultimately it’s not a hard question, or shouldn’t be: if there were a website called creepywank dot org, where you could upload any picture or screengrab of anyone and get AI to produce a photorealistic picture of that person, regardless of age, in a state of undress…should it be legal in the UK?

Thomas I-G@thomasig.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Stephen has been bang on with this aspect of Badenoch's leadership from the start, and it has culminated in a position of being squeamish on banning a site mass-producing CSAM images because something something "Labour might ban it"

Come join our team at FGF: * Communications Coordinator - who will devise & deliver communication campaigns to raise FGF's profile, reputation and reach * Researcher - who will conduct research & analysis in support of FGF projects and workstreams www.futuregovernanceforum.co.uk/vacancies/

Today the Government has announced a new package of support for care leavers, including free prescriptions, dental care and eyecare for care leavers up to age 25. https://frg.org.uk/news-blogs-and-vlogs/news/new-support-including-free-prescriptions-for-care-leavers/

Am very unimpressed by people who only challenge racism, antisemitism and other vile behaviours when it's committed by a political opponent. . Ps the word weaponisation should be banned

Chaminda Jayanetti@cjayanetti.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I remember the times when I've been at the receiving end of antisemitic abuse. Including when it happened in my youth. It stays with you. So rather then deflecting & worse - Farage should either apologise or admit that such anti Jewish racism is what he still thinks.

Chaminda Jayanetti@cjayanetti.bsky.social · 10mo ago

🔎 Worried about what deprivation of liberty means for children? Family Rights Group has clear advice on DoLs & secure accommodation orders. 👉 Learn about your rights & get support https://frg.org.uk/get-help-and-advice/what/deprivation-of-liberty-dols-and-secure-accommodation-orders-for-children/

BBC News - Two Northumberland Reform councillors suspended - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Two Northumberland Reform councillors suspended

Councillors Nicole Brooke and Patrick Lambert have the whip suspended pending a party investigation.

bbc.co.uk

This Sunday 5.45pm #Lab25 conference. Hear from AJ & Salma, care experienced young people how we can transform our care system so no child is left isolated & alone. Speakers also incl Children's Minister @joshmacalistermp.bsky.social & me. I promise you it'll be a fringe meeting like no other.

Family Rights Group@familyrightsgp.bsky.social · last yr.

Our #BuildNotBreak event at #Lab25 will explore fixing the care system so all children have lasting, loving relationships. New Minister Josh Macalister will speak alongside care leavers Salma and AJ, @cathyashley.bsky.social, Jo Casebourne from Foundations and Cllr Marion Atkinson, Sefton Council.

www.theguardian.com/global-devel... Russia's war crimes include kidnapping Ukrainian children who are taken to sites for patriotic indoctrination, weapons training and combat drills

Russia has network of 200 camps for ‘brainwashing’ Ukrainian children – report

Investigation uncovers documents and satellite imagery that confirm children being taken to sites for patriotic indoctrination, weapons training and combat drills

theguardian.com

"The Children of Silence" - Chilean babies stolen and adopted by Europeans, thanks to Pinochet. 🥚 #adopteesky edition.cnn.com/2025/09/16/a...

Chilean mother reunites with her twin daughters for the first time in 45 years | CNN

A Chilean woman whose twin daughters were stolen from her in 1979 has reunited with them for the first time in four-and-a-half decades.

edition.cnn.com

A newcNAO report "The cost of supporting looked-after children in residential care almost doubled bet 2019-20 & 2023-24 to £3.1 bn" Grotesque profiteering at the expense of children, families & the public purse. There's a strong case for a windfall tax on profits from private residential providers.

Thr Government should just do this. A radical, popular step that would transform millions of children & families' lives. No child should be born into & have to live poverty - it blight lives & our society.

Polling from @Moreincommon_ on Lucy Connolly More than half think her sentence was too lenient or about right. Only a third that it was too harsh. Only 18% think politicians should associate themselves her, while 51% think they should actively distance themselves from her.

Today, the Education Select Committee released its latest report on children’s social care in England. It shines a spotlight on the struggles many families are facing—and the urgent need for change. See below how our Chief Executive, Cathy Ashley, has responded to the report. ow.ly/7MAy50WnEra

Come and work with me! @familyrightsgp.bsky.social is recruiting an Executive and Policy Assistant.

Family Rights Group@familyrightsgp.bsky.social · last yr.

We're hiring! Are you a highly organised administrator with top-notch research & writing skills? Join Family Rights Group as Executive & Policy Assistant. Apply now 👉 frg.org.uk/about-us/wor...

Good news for 100,000s of children, parents & #kinship carers - all children in a household on Universal Credit will now be eligible for free school meals

Bridget Phillipson MP@bphillipsonmp.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨 NEW: Labour is lifting 100,000 children out of poverty by expanding access to free school meals. Alongside free breakfast clubs, cheaper uniform costs and government-funded childcare, Labour is putting money in parents’ pockets and giving children the best start in life.

✈️ Lifelong Links goes international! We’re excited to share a glimpse from a recent trip to Oslo, where @cathyashley.bsky.social and @pamledward.bsky.social alongside FGC service manager Nicky Pallis, presented Lifelong Links to Norwegian sector leaders. #LifelongLinks #BuildNotBreak #Norway #Oslo

What an ignorant column in today's @theguardian.com Makes the bizarre assumption that children in care don't have any parents (or presumably families) -& answer to all lies in adoption. No exploration of safely averting children entering care, or reunification, kinship or foster care.

@martinbarrow.bsky.social · last yr.

Prospective parents are no longer queuing up to adopt children in care, says Martha Gill via The Observer observer.co.uk/news/columni...

#Coys Worth the wait🤣

In a new blog for Children & Young People Now, FRG Chief Exec @cathyashley.bsky.social and @childrenfirst.bsky.social Chief Exec @margl24.bsky.social tell us to take a step back and reimagine how we support children and families in need. Read the full blog here: www.cypnow.co.uk/content/blog...

Taking the long view on family-group decision-making - CYP Now

Tackling the serious challenges facing children and young people can feel overwhelming, and conversations about what we can do about it can feel like they go round in circles.

cypnow.co.uk

"At least 23 children and 9 aid workers reportedly killed in Al Fasher, Abu Shouk and Zamzam camps in North Darfur, Sudan" @unicef.org www.unicef.org/press-releas...

At least 23 children and 9 aid workers reportedly killed in Al Fasher, Abu Shouk and Zamzam camps in North Darfur, Sudan

Statement by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell

unicef.org

The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan have killed the entire staff of the beseiged Zamzam camp's last medical clinic & killed at least 100 camp residents. My friend's sisters & little children are in this camp in Western Darfur. #Sudan www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/w...

Sudan Clinic Workers Killed in Zamzam Camp

Relief International said nine employees were killed when gunmen stormed the Zamzam camp in El Fasher, in the western Darfur region.

nytimes.com

🎬 New Film Alert! Parents with learning difficulties often face barriers navigating children’s services. Our new film with @SpeakupSA explains: 🔹 How social workers should communicate 🔹 Key processes & terms 🔹 Support you can seek 📽️ Watch here: ow.ly/iZf950VtS83