One hundred victims of alleged abuse by nuns at Catholic children’s homes in Scotland are to seek criminal injuries compensation. The former residents of Nazareth House started giving evidence this week at hearings held by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Appeals Panel in Glasgow.

Funding for children’s services in Scotland is facing a £160m shortfall, social work directors have warned. The Association of Directors of Social Work said there had been a 10% rise in the number of children being looked after by local authorities since 2001.

{mosimage} People who allegedly suffered abuse at Catholic children’s homes will have their claims for compensation heard this week. Twenty-one former residents at Nazareth House homes in Glasgow, Aberdeen and Kilmarnock are seeking awards after claims they were abused by some of the nuns who ran the homes.

In July, 18 people received payments ranging from £1000 to £7500 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and now lawyer Cameron Fyfe is taking the other cases forward.

{mosimage} He said: “What is important in this instance is not the amount of money my clients will receive, but the recognition by a government-run organisation of the severe abuse suffered over many years.

“My clients are unlikely to receive large sums of money and have never been motivated by the thought of remuneration. Their ideal outcome is that eventually the criminal case will be tried again and be found in their favour.”

One former resident, Christopher Daly, from Rutherglen, Glasgow, claims he suffered physical and emotional abuse during the five years he spent at Nazareth House in Aberdeen.

A crisis of confidence exists among older people in Scotland because of the “overwhelmingly negative” portrayals of its ageing population. This has been claimed by the WRVS in Scotland, a charity with 12,000 volunteers, 11,000 of them aged 50 or over. And backing for its concern has come from an independent organisation involved in the welfare of the elderly.

Three community councils in Sutherland claim Highland Council has thwarted attempts to maintain care for the elderly services in their area.

The Scottish Executive has announced funding for drug treatment projects which focus on abstinence. A total of £1.7m will be given to five schemes which use techniques like detoxification and community support.

A sex beast was behind bars last night after finally admitting a catalogue of abuse on children in his care. Former social worker John Marshall, 61, appeared at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday, five years after the Record helped snare him.

The national charity for older people, Counsel and Care, has published a new range of factsheets specifically for older people living in Scotland or Wales. Counsel and Care has a proven track record of providing advice to older people, and these new factsheets are tailored specifically to the needs of older people in Scotland and Wales. Devolved governments mean that many of the processes for finding and funding care are different to England.

A champion of elderly rights in Dundee says authorities are reduced to “firefighting” a residential care crisis that has left an 81-year-old stranded in Ninewells Hospital for over four months. Councillor Ian Borthwick, who is also Dundee Age Concern’s advocacy officer, said the story of Elizabeth Graczyk – too frail to return to her sheltered housing in Kirkton and in Ninewells awaiting a place in a home – was not unique.

Christine Campbell always had a vision of a house full of children. So, when she and her husband David found they could not have their own, even after fertility treatment, they decided to adopt not just one but a sibling group of three. “Part of the motivation was that during their teenage years, when they say, ‘You’re not my real mummy and daddy,’ we can say, ‘No, we’re not, but these are your real sisters and brother.’ We were thinking ahead to an extent,” says Christine, who lives in Glasgow.