The leading Scottish children’s charity, Aberlour, has warned the UK coalition government that children may be the unintended victims of proposals to withdraw benefits to drug-dependent parents who do not agree to undergo treatment.

People who have sustained brain damage as a result of injury or previous alcohol use are missing out on the opportunity to recover because of missed diagnoses and a lack of specialist care and treatment, according to a new report from the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland.

Child protection services in Dundee are more robust now than when toddler Brandon Muir was killed by his mother’s lover, the city’s director of social work has said, writes Stefan Morkis.

Council leaders in Scotland’s capital are considering axing 300 jobs as part of a cost-cutting drive, it has been revealed.

The SNP group on Highland Council last night said they were incensed by the “deletion” of three care workers posts at an Inverness day centre for vulnerable adults.

PLANS for a new £4.5million homeless hostel in Aberdeen city centre will be discussed by councillors next week.

NEW technology is being used to support vulnerable people in Forres and the rest of Moray in their choice to live safely at home.

ALMOST twice as many pensioners in the Lothians are admitted to hospital with malnutrition than anywhere else in Scotland, figures have shown.

Almost 200 Angus children — including several under the age of one — have been victims of sex crimes since the start of 2008.

The slow recovery in Scotland’s jobs market has gone into reverse, according to a survey of recruitment companies.