38 h. ago To those who question what Labour stands for – look at Best Start. It will change Britain’s future | Polly Toynbee

Sure Start was New Labour’s finest achievement, and the Tories destroyed it. Now it’s back with a mission to put children at the heart of everythingThey hunt high and low for Labour’s missing message, vision, purpose or identity. Well, here it is, where it always was, in the future of children. It’s what Labour does best, what it is for: building a society where children come first and everything else falls into place. The foundations have now been laid by Bridget Phillipson by finally bringing back Sure Start to England – the most successful achievement of the last Labour government – now rebranded as Best Start family hubs.It’s a pity about the new name, but young parents recognise “hubs”, whereas Sure Start is largely gone and forgotten. Its uprooting began the day Michael Gove arrived as education secretary in 2010. He entered the “Department for Children, Schools and Families” – a name chosen to reflect the awareness that children don’t learn without wraparound care for their w...

Politics

69 h. ago Campaigners urge Government to keep care plans for children with Send

In total, there were 638,745 EHCPs in place in January 2025, up 10.8% on the same point last year.

Politics

3 d. ago Boy, 8, found being raised by DOGS turned to animals desperate for 'socialisation'

An eight-year-old feral boy has been taken into the care of a local children's home in Thailand after he was discovered by police being raised by dogs in a filthy hut

Politics

3 d. ago From swim schools to eye clinics: how families of 7/7 victims used heartbreak to help others

Relatives tell of their determination to see good come from the killing of their loved ones in 2005 London bombingsIn the city of Bhubaneswar, the capital of the north-east Indian state of Odisha, there is an eye clinic that has transformed the lives of thousands of children.Before the unit was established in 2008, according to its vice-chair, there was no dedicated children’s eye care centre in the entire eastern part of India, a country home to 20% of the world’s blind children. The clinic now sees about 3,000 children a month and performs 350 eye surgeries – a significant proportion of them at no cost to the often very poor families who need them. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago 'I unknowingly handed my little daughter to man accused of abusing kids at daycare'

An Australian father of three is searching for answers over the care given to his children after recognising an alleged sex offender as his daughter's childcare worker

Events

7 d. ago Dad's 10 word statement after 'ghost children' found in nappies on secluded farm

Dutch sculptor Frederik claimed he was "not the bogeyman" after authorities removed children from his care after they were found wearing nappies and speaking their own language

Politics

8 d. ago Melbourne childcare worker charged with sexual abuse offences as 1,200 children to be tested for infectious diseases

Victoria police allege Point Cook man Joshua Brown sexually assaulted infants and children in his care at a western suburbs childcare centreFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastVictorian health authorities are recommending 1,200 children get tested for infectious diseases after a Melbourne childcare worker was charged with allegedly sexually abusing infants and children in his care.Police on Tuesday confirmed Point Cook man Joshua Brown, 26, was charged last month with more than 70 offences relating to eight alleged victims aged between five months and two years old.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Melbourne childcare worker charged with more than 70 offences against children in his care

Victoria police allege Point Cook man Joshua Brown sexually abused eight children at a western suburbs childcare centreFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Melbourne childcare worker has been charged with more than 70 offences after allegedly sexually abusing eight children in his care.Victoria police issued a statement on Tuesday confirming they charged 26-year-old Point Cook man Joshua Brown last month with offences including sexual penetration of a child under 12, attempted sexual penetration of a child under 12, sexual assault of a child under 16 and producing child material for use through a carriage service. Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago Paedophile who raped children in Scots care homes caged for 15 years

Edward Stanton, 73, who has a prolific history of committing child sex abuse crimes, has been caged again.

Society

9 d. ago AD FEATURE: Fernbees Day Nursery wins top award for its intergenerational care

The nursery is specifically designed to foster interactions between children and the residents of Fernlea Care Home

Events

1 week ago ‘Basically impossible to get them back’: Russia’s mass abduction of Ukrainian children is a war crime, say experts

As territories shift and divide families, desperate parents are travelling to Russia to find their children, many of whom have been moved into military camps or orphanagesAs many as 35,000 Ukrainian children are still missing and thought to be held in Russia or Russian-occupied territories, according to an American team of experts, with families saying they are being forced to take desperate and risky measures to try to rescue them.As Russian forces began their invasion in February 2022, children were abducted from care homes, from the battlefield after the death of their parents, or under coercion directly from their families. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Number of children with special educational needs plans surges by 10% in a year to increase burden on cash

According to figures from the Department for Education (DfE), there were 638,700 children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan in January this year.

Politics

1 week ago Celebrities are not putting enough care into their children’s books, says author

Katherine Rundell said that ‘a high percentage’ of children’s books, published under a celebrity name, may have been ghost-written.

Culture

2 w. ago Four nurses investigated over death of boy, 5, at flagship children’s care home

Exclusive: Nurses facing fitness to practise probe as The Independent reveals a litany of failings at one of Britain’s biggest care homes for disabled children

Events

2 w. ago 'Courageous' victim of cruel and depraved Scots foster couple dies suddenly

The 36-year-old’s 'unexplained' death came less than two years after cruel Sandra and Andrew Harper, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, were convicted of offences against five children in their care.

Events

2 w. ago Kate Middleton issues 'caring' message after pulling out of Royal Ascot appearance

The Princess of Wales has written a personal message to mark Children's Hospice Week, which is being led by Together for Short Lives, the charity for children's palliative care

Politics

2 w. ago Call to end postcode lottery in children’s social care after Sara Sharif tragedy

A Liberal Democrat peer has tabled amendments that aim to give a ‘basic level of protection’ to every child.

Politics

2 w. ago Families of trans kids worry about what's next after Supreme Court rules on gender

A U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors is leaving transgender children and their parents uncertain and anxious about its impact

Events

3 w. ago Holloway review – brave women go back to prison to unlock their stories

In this powerful documentary, six former inmates revisit their old cells to reflect on the childhood trauma and domestic abuse that led them to prisonYou can be told the statistics: 30% of women in prison spent time in care as children, and 70% have been the victim of domestic abuse. But what this powerful documentary from Sophie Compton and Daisy-May Hudson (the latter of whom is the director of just-released film Lollipop) does is to demonstrate the cruelty and injustice of a system that incarcerates the vulnerable.Shot in 2021, it follows six women returning to HMP Holloway in London before demolition began a year later. In the first scenes, they walk back into the prison, some into their old cells. The building is abandoned, ivy creeps up through the floorboards, but it’s still Holloway: “Fuck, I remember this smell,” says one. During a week-long workshop the women – brave and unfailingly articulate – share their stories. All of them experienced trauma in childhood, most masked ...

Events

3 w. ago Huge rise in waiting times leaving children across Wales without care they need

A report from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health says ealy intervention for children is being overlooked while the focus is on long waits for adults

Politics