Children's worker forced to resign over Sunday working
A 57-year-old children's worker who was forced to resign over her desire not to work on Sundays appeared before an employment tribunal on Monday. Celestina Mba worked for over three years at the Brightwell Children's Home in Morden, a respite home for children with disabilities. She was forced to resign in 2010 after her employer chose to no longer accommodate her Christian beliefs. Her beliefs were initially respected by her employer, the London Borough of Merton, who were informed before she started the job that she would have difficulties working on a Sunday. But the Council later changed its mind and she was forced to choose between her job or her faith. Andrea Williams, Director of the Christian
Legal Centre said: ‘This is another case where we see intolerance towards the Christian faith and a lack of willingness to make accommodation for it.’
Pray: that the ruling by the employment tribunal will be reversed and justice would prevail. (Job.9:19)
Children's Society condemns child border detention
In May 2010 the Government announced that it would end the immigration detention of children, but it is failing to do so say the Children's Society. Between May and the end of August 2011,in agregate 697 children were held at Greater London and South East ports. Almost one third were unaccompanied children. This could mean as many as 2,000 children could be detained each year. Shockingly the Home Office is not collecting information on the length of detention or reasons why the children have been detained. In December 2010 the Government published details of its new policy to end the detention of children; within this, the Government retained the right to only hold a few dozen families each year in border cases. The Children’s Society welcomed the progress made by the Government in response to the ‘Outcry!’ campaign; a joint initiative between The Children’s Society and Bail for Immigration Detainees to end the immigration detention of children.
Pray: that the authorities will stand by their promises. (Ps.36:3)
Children's Commissioner: pupils 'raised on a diet of porn'
For the first time, the Children’s Commissioner for England has found a clear link between exposure to extreme images at a young age and a rise in “risky behaviours”. It emerged that children who regularly viewed pornography were more likely to have underage sex, develop “casual and hedonistic” attitudes, experiment with drink and drugs and indulge in sexting. Boys were much more likely to be exposed to porn than girls, it was revealed, resulting in “beliefs that women are sex objects”. The study – based on a large-scale review of international evidence – also found some evidence of a relationship between explicit images and a rise in sexual aggression and harassment of the opposite sex. Maggie Atkinson, the Children’s Commissioner, warned that “violent and sadistic imagery” was readily available among “very young children” because of easy access to the internet on home computers, tablets and mobile phones.
Pray: for a more serious response to address these issues by government, schools, parents, Internet providers and the media. (Col.3:23)
More: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10076263/Childrens-Commissioner-pupils-raised-on-a-diet-of-porn.html
Children suffer when parents abandon 'tough love'
Frank Field claims that young people do much better in life if their mothers and fathers set clear boundaries for their behaviour as well as bonding with them and reading to them. The former Labour minister, who is now the Coalition’s ‘poverty tsar’, believes that the end of old-fashioned parenting has held back the poorest children, preventing them from getting good jobs. He proposes that the Foundation Years stage of education, which currently runs from birth to five, should begin when the mother-to-be registers as pregnant with a doctor. In his article today, Mr Field writes that social mobility has stalled over the past 50 years despite rising incomes. He claims the ‘subtle and influential’ force affecting life chances for children is the changing style of parenting in Britain. ‘The sociologist Geoffrey Gorer asked why England had moved by the 1950s from being a pretty violent and uncivilised nation to one of respectability.’ Tough love. Pray: that Frank Field’s report is accepted by all parents to improve the life chances of their young. (Mk 10:19)
Children should be central to marriage
The Archbishop of Westminster has affirmed marriage as providing the ‘best place’ for raising children, commenting that marriage gives children an opportunity to develop a sense of identity and experience the nurture and love of both their natural mother and father. Speaking at an annual mass for married couples in Westminster Cathedral on 26 May, the Most Revd Vincent Nichols criticised the increasing trend towards defining marriage ‘without any reference to children’, and warned that severing the vital bond between marriage and child-rearing could have ‘damaging consequences’ for society. He stated: ‘We know that the context of a marriage is the best place for children to be reared, providing them with a framework of love, within which they are sure of their biological heritage and not deprived, without grave reason, of the experience of being loved and raised by their natural mother and father.’
Pray: for the clear Biblical message emphasised by the Archbishop and the Church to be accepted more widely. (Pr.20:7)
Children have never had it harder
Children are being put under too much pressure from exams, the Internet and celebrity culture, parents have warned. An investigation into children's welfare in 21st century Britain has found high levels of concern that their development is being damaged. Research by Mumsnet, the parenting website, found that adults believe it has never before been harder to be a child growing up. The study found that nearly nine out of ten parents feel their offspring are suffering from pressure to look like unrealistic images used in the media. Almost two thirds of those polled said that there was too much testing in schools, while three quarters admitted they struggled to spend enough time with their children because of their long working hours. More than half said the rise of the Internet had added to young people's problems, while 78 per cent said children do not play out enough on their own.
Pray: for young people and for secure, strong families who can support children faced with increasing life-pressures. (3Jn:4)