ALMOST 9,000 children in Wales are at risk of, or already suffering abuse or neglect, according to new figures.

CAMPAIGNERS who kept a Llanelli care home open have hit back at criticism that £500,000 will be spent on a near-empty home.

TWO Llanelli care homes have been saved from the threat of clousre. A packed public gallery at County Hall erupted in cheers when councillors voted 38 to 28 to keep Caemaen and St Paul’s open in local authority control.

A SOCIAL worker who was employed by Caerphilly council was found guilty of misconduct at a hearing last week.

Social care in Powys and Ceredigion could be headed by one person in future. Ceredigion Council has backed a proposal to conduct a feasibility study to develop a collaboration between the social services departments of both.

Councils have been told to team-up so social services can be commissioned regionally. They have been given until the end of the year to come up with proposals by the Welsh Assembly Government.

COUNCIL chiefs have agreed St Paul’s care home in Llanelli should shut in what opponents called a “bitter wind of change”.

Gwenda Thomas, the Deputy Minister for Social Services, has announced a funding package of £2 million to support children and adults with Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) for 2011.

A new owner may save one of two Carmarthenshire council-run care homes in Llanelli, but the other could shut.

IMPROVEMENTS to Blaenau Gwent’s social services were praised last week by an official report.