Girls taken by social services

"Relaxing at their lovely family home this week, Victoria Seymour cuddles her daughters Georgia and Grace as though she will never let them out of her sight."

"Life is beginning to get back to normal for the family after a nightmare ordeal in which — after a throwaway remark from Georgia at school — social workers seized the girls, put them in foster homes and threatened never to let them return to their parents."

"The two children had been told off by Victoria for squabbling in the kitchen. She ordered them to stay indoors for the weekend, with no computer games or TV."

"Faced with this dreary prospect, Georgia, the eldest, complained to her primary school teacher that she was ‘frightened’ to go home."

"As 38-year-old Victoria explained to the Mail this week: ‘Georgia concocted the story to try to avoid a boring Saturday and Sunday. Without even checking the truth with me, the social workers just stepped in and tore our family apart on the word of a naughty child.’"

"Victoria and her husband Alan found themselves being investigated for emotionally and physically abusing the girls, then aged 11 and nine, by child protection staff, health workers and even the police, after they had returned from their home in Australia to care for Alan’s mother in England."

"It was only after a three-month battle that the couple won the girls back and then fled to Australia. There’s one thing of which they are certain: they will never again set foot in Britain, where they were both born."

"The Seymours have begun legal action against Bridport social services in Dorset for breaching their human rights and causing their children mental anguish."

"During their stay here, they came within a whisker of losing their beloved girls."

"This couple are speaking out because they want to warn other families what could happen to them."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3080527/The-schoolgirls-snatched-parents-social-services-moaned-teachers-banned-watching-TV.html#ixzz3a86yrPLw

Progressive politics, or a step back into the dark ages ?

"Scotland`s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has joined Scotland's outgoing top judge in a bid to block increased judicial accountability & transparency with the creation of a register of interests for judges."

"The surprise move by the country’s most senior politician comes amid fears the judicial transparency proposal currently being considered by MSPs will expose the secret links between big money, big business, offshore private banking, staggering property wealth and Scotland’s mega powerful & secretive judiciary..." [Freemasonry and child abuse cover ups ? ]

"The proposals – under investigation by MSPs since January 2013 - call for the creation of a single independently regulated register of interests containing information on judges backgrounds, their personal wealth, undeclared earnings, business & family connections inside & outside of the legal profession, offshore investments, hospitality, details on recusals and other information routinely lodged in registers of interest across all walks of public life in the UK and around the world. "

"The petition has cross party support from msps who backed a motion urging the Scottish Government to create a register of judicial interests at Holyrood on 9 October 2014 - reported along with video footage and the official record, here: Debating the Judges. "

"The latest, surprise intervention by the First Minister in the bid to bring transparency to Scotland’s secretive judges only came to light last week - although Ms Sturgeon’s letter is dated 30 March..."

"The First Minister’s letter is an almost word for word quote from previous letters written by Lord Gill who has previously blasted msps on the Petitions Committee for even to dare to consider the issue of increased transparency of the judiciary."

http://petercherbi.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/interests-intervene-first-minister.html

 

The struggle for transparency in the Scottish judicial system has a sullied history as the Scottish law blog has documented.

 

Using taxpayers money, (Dame) Elish Angionlini who was Lord Advocate for Scotland, brought a private prosecution against Robert Green for harassment. He had had the audacity to write to the Crown Office pleading that they should instruct Grampian Police to:

"...investigate serious and substantiated allegations of the paedophile abuse of a young downs syndrome victim, Hollie Greig. In particular Mr. Green asked that Grampian Police should be instructed to interview those named as Hollie’s abusers." (including a serving police officer, and a local Sheriff).

http://scottishlaw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/elish-mcphilomy-angiolinis-magic-circle.html

 

She would accept no criticism for failing to act. At one particular hearing Robert Green was in front of a Sheriff who did not declare his ten year working relationship with Elish Angiolini and who refused to recuse himself. 

Given this level of corruption, it is no surprise that Robert Green was imprisoned twice for what should have been petty offences, even if they had been proved.

While the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014  allows Named Persons to gather the personal information of every child and their family in Scotland, the First Minister works against the petition for a more accountable and transparent judiciary - an essential in any true democracy.

‘Power corrupts’ is a well-known truism but there is no acknowledgment of the possible danger of increasing State power over families. There is no recognition of the fact that liberal societies have placed a high value on privacy and confidentiality precisely because they present an obstacle to the State. While the State sees this in a negative light, the individual values it as a protection of their freedom. The professional ethic of confidentiality is seen by the government as an obstructive barrier to be removed in implementing their monitoring and assessment programme but this should remind us that the ethical principle is playing its rightful part as a protective barrier, defending the individual against excessive intrusion by the State.

http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/4403/1/Confidentiality_in_a_preventative_child_welfare_system(LSEROpdf                                                              

Desperate dad charged with stealing out-of-date food

.

 

"Police were called after Paul and Kerry Barker were spotted sifting through food which was destined for the bins at the back of the supermarket."

"A judge has slammed prosecutors for charging a desperate dad who stole out-of-date food from Tesco with theft, asking: "How are they expected to live?"

"Paul Barker, 39, and Kerry Barker, 29, were spotted on CCTV sifting through groceries at the back of a store which were destined for the bin."

"The couple are down on their luck and say they have virtually no money to look after themselves or their kids."

"But they found themselves arrested and taken to court after police were called to the shop in Sunderland in January."

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/how-expected-live-judge-slams-5682582


Kerry and Paul Barker had just  £8-a-week to live on when they were caught on CCTV taking food. The stress continues because their home has recently been burgled.

With 12 billion cuts in welfare to come, many more families will struggle to exist.

Johnny Void breaks down some of the figures and questions whether there has been an upturn in the job market:


See https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/over-4-people-million-who-want-jobs-is-the-so-called-jobs-miracle-shuddering-to-a-halt/#comments
 

Educational reforms in Finland

From Dennis Hayes, Professor of Education at University of Derby:

"It easy to lampoon education reforms in Finland that aim to scrap the teaching of traditional subjects in favour of broader topics. The new initiative could see history, geography and languages replaced for periods by interdisciplinary "phenomenon-based" projects on topics such as the European Union. Instead of sitting in rows learning facts about the world, pupils can rush around corridors or the web and collect information in a spirit of "joyful learning".

"Ridicule was my immediate response but what is happening has serious and sad consequences. It will ultimately waste not only children’s time, but their education."

"The reasons given in Finland for the reforms are a familiar: this set of initiatives is necessary to meet the challenges of working life in "modern society". What it means is that education is no longer valued for its own sake but is seen as having instrumental value for the economy. This is often supported by claims about how to stop education being boring and make it more relevant through new pedagogic practices. The pattern is the same across the world and we are seeing a shift from a concern with classroom content to a concern with practice."

"There is a lesson here for every teacher and parent. Even in a country often lauded as an educational success story, if you do not understand why your education system was excellent you can still throw it away."

Knowledge and skills

"The idea of being "modern" and promoting projects, multi-disciplinary activities and communication skills instead of traditional subjects is a rejection of education. But some people, including a few of my colleagues, celebrate this shift and one praised it as "thinking outside of the box". I was even invited to celebrate this change by watching a live streamed event which would emphasise "Finland’s recent decision to de-silo".

http://theconversation.com/finland-is-throwing-away-everything-that-made-its-schools-the-best-in-the-world-39445

Like Canada etc, Scotland too is promoting interdisciplinary learning in Curriculum for Excellence. In other words, project based learning is very much `inside the box` these days.

Here are some of the supposed benefits:

Learners are motivated and involved; they demonstrate an inquisitive attitude. Learners develop confidence in facing challenges, both intellectual and practical. Learning is connected and directly related to real-life experiences. Learners work individually and collaboratively... 

It supports the development of skills for learning, life and work.

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningandteaching/learningacrossthecurriculum/interdisciplinarylearning/about/benefits.asp

 See also http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/fraud-of-the-century-via-our-public-sector-the-real-common-core-purpose-for-education/

How and why education became a weapon

From Women on the Wall:

Robin Eubanks discusses her book Credentialed to destroy: How and why education became a weapon. A mother of 3 children and an attorney who worked in health she began to see the same drivers she disapproved of in health care appearing in education. She believes Clinton`s reform known as outcome based education is very much analogous to Common Core. It has changed its sales pitch but it is the same template. There is a continuous trajectory of these ideas such as: values clarification, competency based education, mapping backwards, understanding by design. When people begin to understand the controversial concepts, educators change the name, but the blueprint remains the same.

Basically they begin by looking at the qualities they would like to inculcate in the students, and by backward mapping,  determine what goes on in the classroom. "You teach the concepts that guide the students` perceptions so that it becomes part of their belief system. So instead of facts, it is beliefs tied up with emotions about how the world works, or how they see themselves and others. So that becomes influential in how they behave in the future. It always comes down to behaviour. This is different to a rational understanding about how the world works."

Digital learning is the Trojan horse that will be used to shift the classroom from an academic knowledge based education. It is an attempt to uninvent the printing press, an abstract symbol system that ignited the human mind. "If you use computers as a tool, a visual system, you just make schools vocational."  Robin Eubanks learned from a speaker at a technology conference that the great thing about game based learning is that they get to create the visual images, the virtual reality, that students will come to accept as the physical world. That makes it easy to work on students` perceptions about how the world works; so, for instance, climate change alarm is very easy to generate in this way.

These ideas are based on the Turchenko model, a paper written in the Soviet Union in 1975, translated into English very soon after, and published in the US. It models how the economic system is to work and how digital learning is to tap into that. Only about half of the psychological research into technology and visualisation and how it can change people`s behaviour and values has been translated. Part of UNESCO is still in Moscow.

"This is a coup, an invisible coup  using our schools, all designed to create a planned economy and society."

From a review of Credentialed to destroy: How and why education became a weapon:

"[Vladimir] Turchenko also repeatedly stated that education was seen by the Soviets as their primary means of prevailing over the US in the Cold War... The Soviet Union explicitly saw education, both K-12 and higher ed, `as the most powerful political and ideological weapon.' Instead of education in the traditional sense of acquiring knowledge, the Turchenko / Soviet model by the mid-1970s was `functionally geared to shaping personality.' This Turchenko model for socialist education that was to be the model for other countries to emulate in the future was designed explicitly to assure `mastery of values, skills, and norms of behavior.'"

"The Soviets did know by the mid-1980s they could not continue with the existing form of communism. They, with help from sympathizers in the social and economic planning set in the West who were never going to learn to love free markets and individual choices, came up with a different international template for social, political, and economic control."

"We have been unknowingly granting and funding a level of intrusion in education now that is greater than any tyrannical aspiration we went to war against in the 20th century....Genuine evil is afoot now all over the world and it is gaining hold through our schools and colleges and universities. And the only way to stop it is widespread understanding of why and how."  

 
http://www.amazon.com/Credentialed-Destroy-Education-Became-Weapon/product-reviews/1492122831/ref=cm_cr_pr_btm_link_2?ie=UTF8&sortBy=byRankDescending&pageNumber=2

Implants for girls as young as 13

"There is a strong correlation between deprivation and teenage pregnancy.. "

"In the most deprived areas in 2012 the rate of teenage pregnancies in the under 16 age group is 4.6 times the rate in the least deprived areas (10.5 per 1,000 and 2.3 per 1,000 respectively). "

It can also be seen in the graph above that the ratio of abortions to deliveries is highest in the least deprived areas. This fact is not often discussed. I`ll resist saying anything about private health care and what that means about the true figures.

http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/sexual-health/Publications/2014-06-24/2014-06-24-TeenPreg-Report.pdf

In an ideal world tackling poverty and deprivation might be the best way forward.  But we do not live in a world like that.

Here`s the Daily Record:

"GIRLS as young as 13 are being given implants in an effort to cut teenage pregnancies in Scotland. [From the most deprived areas, no doubt.] The move is part of an effort to encourage sexually active youngsters to use long-acting reversible contraceptives."

"In the last five years, 3000 LARCs have been prescribed to under-16s. The hormone releasing implants, which are placed in users’ arms, can be effective for up to three years."

"Other LARCs  – which can be prescribed to girls from the age of 13 without their parents knowledge if doctors and nurses are satisfied the youngster understands the treatment – include coils."

"These contraceptive methods don’t rely on the user taking regular medication and are thought to be better for young girls as a result. [The long term health consequences for this age group has never been tested.] However, some campaign groups believe they encourage underage sex and warn they risk spreading STIs...."

"About a third of 15-year-old girls in Scotland are sexually active* and the country has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe."

* It would be interesting to know where the statistic that a third of 15 year old girls are sexually active comes from.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/health/scots-girls-young-13-given-5675095?_sm_au_=iVVDD8vNH55j6vnP

As if all of this was not bad enough, the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 assigns a Named Person for every child and young person in Scotland.

This means that youngsters may be able to hide their sexual activity from their parents, but according to recent guidance about the legislation, not from their Named Persons.

Parents are expected to stand aside while an army of state officials take care of their underage daughters, in secret.

Anybody else find fault with this ?

See https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/scotlands-named-persons-replace-parents/

Modern music: selling sexual debauchery to children

From Elliot Overton at Sott.net

"In our technologically 'advanced' society, different types of music are more accessible than ever before. In this day and age, with the multiplicity of specialized MP3 players, mobile phones and other assorted gadgets, an entire album can be downloaded within a matter of seconds... with little or no content restrictions in place..."

"According to psychologists Ashby and Rich (2005) in their paper, Video killed the radio star: "
"Music induces strong emotions that can make individuals more susceptible to changes in attitude or behavior. Multiple studies demonstrated the influence of visual media on risky attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors among adolescents..."

"The combination of music and video may be synergistic in their effect on adolescent attitudes and behavior. Once music establishes a mood, the lyrics and images that are portrayed may have more impact than either form alone...""So, the presence of both audio and visual stimulation can cause the visual image portrayed in a music video to "persist with the viewer"?  They further state: "
"Music videos socialize young people by communicating ideas about expected behavior, relationships, and male and female roles..." "In recent years, the content of mainstream popular music appears to have undergone some rather drastic changes and the inclusion of "pro-social values" featured in songs seems to be gradually on the decline. In other words: The monotonous drivel spewed forth by the pop-culture of today's society (as a substitute for music) can only be described as an ever-growing cesspit of obscenities, profanities and the indication of outright moral decay. "

Read more http://www.sott.net/article/296162-Modern-Music-Promoting-pedophilia-to-adults-and-sexual-debauchery-to-children

Social and emotional learning platforms

Accept social and emotional learning and mindfulness training into the classroom and this is the next step:

AT & T are taking mindfulness training into the digital age:

"Momentous Institute and AT&T, through the AT&T Aspire initiative, have released three mobile apps that can help children better understand their emotions. The organizations are using the apps to expand the reach of the best ed-tech solutions for students."

"Research shows that social emotional health is an indicator of how well children succeed in school and life. "[What research ? ]

"The AT&T Foundry worked with Momentous Institute and an app developer to translate social emotional health techniques to a digital platform. Students with a mobile device can now use the apps to help regulate their emotions and focus on tasks at hand—whether they are at school, at home or somewhere in between."
Settle Your Glitter guides students through a deep breathing exercise that helps allow them to regain control of their emotions and shift their focus back to learning. .
Breathing Bubbles helps students reflect on their good feelings and release their worries in an effort to improve their mood and emotional well-being. 
 
Pass the Drop helps a classroom or group of students focus their attention on the work at hand with the goal of reducing distractions.
. http://about.att.com/content/csr/home/blog/2015/05/momentous_institute.html
See also http://alicemooreuk.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/nudging-children-with-mindfulness.html

Pathway from womb to work, and beyond

The diagram is from one of the many Getting it right for every child in Lanarkshire documents. It is difficult to read even when it is magnified but it does offer interesting insights into the data tracking and data sharing process which Named Persons will undertake for EVERY child. The Child/young person`s pathway is set out below: 

Step One

At the first visit to a booking in clinic, the Midwife explains to parents that he/she will be the Named Person assessing the parents` capacity to provide wellbeing for their child. The Midwife tracks the baby`s progress through pregnancy, birth and the first two weeks. All available information is gathered from the parents and other maternity staff and used to complete a parental capacity to provide wellbeing assessment.

It is unclear if informed consent for the `parental capacity to provide wellbeing assessment` is required, or what the consequences would be if parents refused to provide all `available information.` However, part of the assessment determines if parents can work with services. Further information about the assessment can be found HERE .

Step Two

At transition to public health, in discussion with parents, the `parental capacity to provide wellbeing assessment` is shared with the Public nurse when the baby is between 10 - 14 days. The Public nurse explains to parents that he/she will become the Named Person, assessing the child`s wellbeing until the child reaches five years old. The child`s wellbeing is tracked through regular health checks, monitoring and home visits. The Named Person in public health keeps a Single Agency Chronology.

Again it is unclear if informed consent is required from the parents by the midwife in order to share the `parenting assessment` with the Public nurse, or whether a discussion is sufficient.  "A Single Agency chronology provides a brief description and summarised account of events in date order...(No) matter how significant or insignificant it may appear itself, (it) can take a greater importance in the life of a child when placed in the context of a time-lined chronology that can be shared."  More information HERE . So the health visitor`s role has broadened to include tracking insignificant life events.
 
Step Three

At transition to local authority nursery, with informed consent, the Public Health Nurse shares information on the child`s wellbeing with nursery staff. A member of the senior management team in the local authority nursery explains that although the Public Health Nurse will remain the Named Person until the child reaches five, nursery staff will be responsible for the child`s wellbeing during nursery hours and will communicate with the Named Person where necessary. Partnership and private nurseries will do the same and, with informed consent, can also request information on the child`s wellbeing from the Named Person.

Now data sharing requires informed consent from parents at the transition to nursery. However there is no mention that informed consent is needed in order for the nursery to communicate with the Named Person. By the time the child is five the Named Person will have accumulated a significant amount of data about the child and his/her family, including an assessment about parenting capacity.

Step Four

At transition to primary school, local authority nursery staff, acting on behalf of the Named Person and in discussion with parents, share information about the child`s wellbeing with a member of the senior management team in the primary school. For children who have not attended nursery, or who attend an independent nursery, the Named Person (public health) will ask for informed consent to share the information available on the child`s wellbeing with a member of the senior management team in primary school. A member of the senior management team in the primary school explains to the parents that he/she will be the Named Person until the child enters secondary school.

It is not clear if `discussion` and `informed consent` are being used interchangeably.

Step Five

At transition to secondary school, in discussion with child/family, a member of the senior management team in primary school shares information on the child`s wellbeing with a member of the pupil support team in secondary. The member of the pupil support team explains to the young person/family that they will be the Named Person responsible for the young person`s wellbeing until they leave secondary school.

Now the child is included in discussion about the data sharing but there is no mention of informed consent.

Step Six

At transition to further education or the world of work, with informed consent, information about the young person`s wellbeing can be shared by the Named Person.

There is a request for informed consent but by this time a child could be 18.

See http://www.girfecinlanarkshire.co.uk/girfec-resources/Item%2015%20The%20child-young%20persons%20pathway/Item%2015av2%20The%20child-young%20persons%20pathway.pdf

Put the wellbeing data gathered by the Named Person together with the profile of achievements which children will build from 3 to 18, and will include their attitudes, values and behaviour since that is what Curriculum for Excellence is about, and GIRFEC reveals the true motivation behind the whole child approach : the total surveillance of the child.

Add that to the proposal to expand the National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR) linked to other public bodies - thus creating a national identity register in Scotland - and we have the totally surveilled citizen - from pre-birth to death. 

Man charged with abusing boys at Ayrshire children`s home

"A man has been convicted of sexually abusing boys at a children's home in Ayrshire after his victims came forward following the Jimmy Savile scandal."

"Brian Newman, 58, from Kilmarnock, was convicted of 10 charges of indecency and sexual assault against six boys at the home during the 1990s."

"He was found guilty following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh."

"Judge Lord Glennie deferred sentence on Newman and continued bail but told him to to expect a "significant" jail term."

"He also placed Newman on the sex offenders register."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-32660673