BEST-SELLING author Sir Terry Pratchett has today called for an increase in Government investment in dementia research to deal with the “worldwide tsunami” of dementia.

A FREE five-star spa day is on offer in a bid to persuade people to become foster carers. But the new plans aimed at attracting carers for the city’s most vulnerable children have come in for withering criticism.

MORE than two cases of abuse a week against vulnerable adults were investigated in Flintshire in the last year. No fewer than 117 cases were investigated between April 2008 and March this year, new figures have revealed.

Deputy Minister for Social Services Gwenda Thomas looks at a project which aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children.

EXPERTS brought in to oversee the troubled children’s services department of Swansea Council have criticised the slow pace of improvements.

A LEADING care sector organisation has launched a major recruitment drive in Wrexham. According to Care Forum Wales, independent operators are now providing 80% of the social care in Wales – mainly funded by the public purse.

A PANEL of experts brought in to oversee the work of Swansea Council’s children’s services department says the authority needs to show “far more urgency” in dealing with the problems.

WALES’ Commissioner for Older People is irrelevant, a charity claimed yesterday, as it issued a damning report into the care of an elderly man.

The Welsh Assembly Government has set out further details of an initiative to create a ‘shared responsibility’ across agencies for supporting vulnerable children and families.

NEWPORT was chosen to help pioneer a new support scheme for vulnerable children and families in Wales. Newport city council will join Wrexham, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff councils in the innovative new scheme.