More than half of the sex abuse victims surveyed by a Northern Ireland charity said they had experienced mental health problems. More than a third said they had been sexually abused for at least six years. The survey was carried out by the Nexus Institute, which provides counselling for adult victims.

Social workers in Northern Ireland are to follow a new training strategy in a bid to boost public confidence.  Northern Ireland Office Social Services Minister Paul Goggins launched the strategy which will see thousands of social workers undertake regular training under the province`s Social Care Council. The council will also be tasked with monitoring the performance of social workers to ensure they are practising safely.

A reference card for mental health services in the south of the Ireland has been drawn up in a bid to prevent suicides. Just a week after an inquest into the drownings of a young mother and her two daughters branded the social services a disgrace, the Health Services Executive (HSE) South said a range of measures for suicide prevention and for those affected by suicide have been developed. “People who feel they are in crisis for whatever reason, need to know they are not alone,” Sean McCarthy, Mental Health Resource Officer with the HSE South, said.

Thousands of people in Northern Ireland risk death or disability because they do not know enough about strokes, a leading medical charity has warned. NI Chest Heart and Stroke has labelled the findings of a new survey “shocking”. Eighty-four people in 100 did not think a high-fat diet was a risk and just 13% understood the danger of too much salt.

The Government says it will not consider introducing legislation setting out the rights of natural parents despite last week’s controversial High Court judgment in which a married couple failed to win back custody of a child they put up for adoption. Ministers say they want to wait until after a Supreme Court hearing into the case of the child, referred to as baby “Ann”, is completed. Brian Lenihan, the minister for children, said the government would have to await “an authoritative ruling” before deciding what to do about the High Court decision.

With the new school year under way, here’s a damning statistic: more than half of teenagers leaving the care system have no qualifications whatsoever. Fostering Achievement, a trailblazing scheme which is the first of its kind in the UK, has been launched in Belfast with the aim of turning that around. Terry Vallely, a foster mum for nearly 30 years, and her foster daughter Brenda, a university student, tell why a brighter future is well worth fighting for.

A new government scheme supporting Northern Irish foster parents to help fostered children to achieve their potential has been officially launched in Belfast. The scheme, Fostering Achievement: supporting foster carers as first educators, is the first of its kind across the UK. Managed by charities the Fostering Network and Include Youth, it will provide foster carers across Northern Ireland with independent access to advice and funding to improve the education of fostered children.

Foster parents are to be given more money to provide extras for the young people living with them. In a scheme unique to Northern Ireland, they will be able to buy in music tuition, driving lessons and computers. Research shows that young people in care do not do as well in education. More than half leave school with no qualifications at all.

The government has taken steps to reduce the level of suicides in NI following a large rise in the number of people who take their own lives. The Suicide Strategy Implementation Body was announced by Health Minister Paul Goggins. Last year, 213 people took their lives in Northern Ireland, a rise of more than 60 from the previous year.

The investigation into the deaths of 95 patients at Leas Cross nursing home uncovered “grave and disturbing” facts about the care of elderly people, the author of the report has said. Professor Desmond O‘Neill, who spent four months investigating standards at the Dublin nursing home, said urgent attention much now be given to the whole system of nursing home care. He said he was also extremely concerned at the delay in appointing 30 senior healthcare workers to deal with the abuse of elderly people, especially as funding for their posts had been approved by Health Minister Mary Harney as far back as May 2005.