We have lift off! For the first time in England a picture of employment in the social care sector, taking in workforce development, skills training and qualifications, funding and career pathways, is obtainable online to the industry.

Record numbers of young children are being removed from their parents and adopted unjustly because of government targets and the “secrecy” of the family courts, it has been claimed. Campaigners say there are now more than 100 cases of possible miscarriages of justice where children have been forcibly adopted.

{mosimage}The figures, revealed in BBC Radio 4’s Face the Facts programme, claims the number of parents in England who have had to give up their children, despite insufficient evidence they were causing them harm, has now hit record levels. It says 1,300 babies under a month old are being adopted every year, up from 500 when the government came into power in 1997.

Social workers told the BBC programme that they were being put under immense pressure to meet the government adoption targets set back in 2000. And lawyers have claimed that parents were not being given a proper chance to challenge adoptions because of the time limit placed on appeals and the secrecy within the family courts.

Family law solicitor Sarah Harman said: “Secrecy breeds bad practice, it breeds suspicion. It feeds parents’ sense of injustice when they have their children removed that they’re not able to talk about it. They’re not able to air their grievances. Children have been removed from their families unjustly. There’s no two ways about that.”

A social work manager with 25 years’ experience in child protection said parents had little chance of getting a hearing and overturning a decision made by the authorities. The manager told the BBC: “People will find that their children have been removed and freed for adoption without them having had a proper chance to defend themselves and their families and their children.”

Achieving the goals of Every Child Matters may not be possible without making the environment one of its top priorities, is the claim made by a newly released report by the Sustainable Development Commission.

Health bosses in the Norfolk have come under fire for prescribing too many drugs to children with ADHD. An international psychiatric watchdog said Norfolk Primary Care Trust is putting children in “chemical straitjackets” and not offering alternative ways of dealing with the problem.

The number of people applying for asylum in the UK fell by over 2,000 in 2006 to its lowest level since 1993, according to Home Office statistics. The figures show that 23,610 applications, were lodged last year, representing an 8% fall in applications on 2005.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) has announced that it is calling for children and young people to get involved in its work, share views on projects and ultimately shape the skills of the workforce which is helping them.

Hackney Council is introducing a new style of social work that will give staff more freedom to practice and extra training. All social care staff will receive training in systemic family therapy, where social workers support whole families.

Scientists today raise the first hope of a cure for Huntington’s disease after unlocking the secrets of what goes wrong in the brains of sufferers.

Patients with severe arthritis are to be given access to a new generation of drug on the NHS – a decision hailed by campaigners as a “triumph”. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has approved the “smart drug” MabThera for prescription in England and Wales.