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This dramatic change in the law comes a year and a half after a ProPublica investigation showed how the hotline had been weaponized by jealous exes, spiteful landlords and others who endlessly called in baseless allegations. Even if a caller didn’t leave their name or any details, and even if the same allegation had repeatedly been investigated and found to be unsubstantiated, it automatically triggered an invasive search of the accused’s home and often a strip search of the children.

“Venice (like everywhere) needs public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism,” Greenpeace UK said on Bluesky. ” It’s time to #TaxTheSuperRich and make them pay for the destruction they cause – the world is not their playground.”

Amid predictions of a big parliamentary revolt and wild speculation that the vote could even be pulled, it is worth thinking about how Labour’s collective belief in the dignity of labour regularly curdles into two toxic ways of thinking. One is a belief that paid employment is the only reliable gauge of people’s esteem; the other is a queasiness about disability that sometimes lurks just below the surface. There is also an apparently desperate need to counter any suggestion that Labour ministers are liberal fainthearts. In March, the justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, offered a curt explanation of why the government was set on its plan: “This is the Labour party. The clue is in the name. We believe in work.”

Historic abuse victims facing delays in obtaining social work reports has led to Glasgow City Council being slapped with a formal reprimand by a national watchdog.

Victoria’s landmark anti-vilification laws are a significant step forward for LGBTQIA+ people, people with disabilities and anyone discriminated against because of their sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. They put Victoria ahead of other states and territories by offering a stronger shield from hate speech under both criminal and civil law. The reform extends existing protections for race and religion to now include gender, sex, sexual orientation and disability.

When Kelly Lennox, 63, is grocery shopping, she focuses on buying nutritious food to aid her recovery from a litany of surgeries after a car accident last summer left her injured and unable to work. Without the nearly $100 a month she gets from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Lennox says, those items would be hard to afford.

As AI comes to play a bigger role in industry, the left cannot surrender in advance. While we shouldn’t imagine AI technologies as a cure-all — but nor should we dismiss them or the productivity gains some of them might offer. This moment in our industrial history is a critical juncture, one which presents us with an opportunity to democratize the control and use of AI, and to remake the welfare state in a way commensurate to the change and consistent with the social, political, and cultural goals we collectively choose. We should seize it and make AI work for us, at our command.

In addition to attending the conference, the team had the valuable opportunity to gain work exposure at the Safeguarding and Family Resilience Unit within Surrey County Council. This hands-on experience enabled DFCS social workers to observe and learn from Surrey’s best practices in safeguarding children and supporting families in crisis.

Proponents of these assessment systems argue that they can create more efficient public services by doing more with less and, in the case of welfare systems specifically, reclaim money that is allegedly being lost from the public purse. In practice, many were poorly designed from the start. They sometimes factor in personal characteristics in a way that leads to discrimination, and sometimes they have been deployed without testing for bias or effectiveness. In general, they offer few options for people to challenge—or even understand—the automated actions directly affecting how they live. The result has been more than a decade of scandals.

Surveillance cameras in care homes can help detect abuse, but they raise serious questions about privacy.

The 11 exemptions cover courses that are required for a degree or a minor — coursework that cannot be replaced with another class that doesn’t have a DEI component:
– Boise State University requested four exemptions — related to its bachelor’s and master’s programs in social work, and minors in critical theory and gender studies.
– Idaho State University sought three exemptions. Two requests cover bachelor’s and master’s programs in social work, similar to Boise State. The third request involves a minor in gender and sexuality studies.
– Lewis-Clark State College requested exemptions for its social work bachelor’s program and its minor in women and gender studies.
– The University of Idaho sought an exemption for its minor in women’s, gender and sexuality studies.
– The College of Western Idaho requested an exemption for its associate’s degree program in social work.

Before the June 2nd launch of the ‘Partnership and Technology Hub for North Carolina,’ or ‘Path NC’ for short, leaders with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services say the state’s 100 county departments of social services were operating on their own, independent systems. The new system is more efficient, more modern, and means social workers are getting real-time information to support their decisions on child welfare cases.

With housing supply dwindling and rents soaring, protesters call for radical reform and public housing investment…. “There are too many boarded up houses all over the place. There are three generations living together in overcrowded houses because there are not enough being built. All the groups represented at this protest are here to highlight solutions,” he said. Currently, there are more than 300 vacant council houses in Cork City.

A survey from Skills Development Scotland on the proposals for a Graduate Apprenticeship for social work in Scotland

Nearly seven months after it was first debated, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has now completed all its steps in the House of Commons…. Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater said she’s “over the Moon” as the bill will now give terminally ill patients a “choice and dignity where they might not otherwise have it”.

Hong Kong is still facing threats from “soft resistance,” which may take the form of performance content, song lyrics, and storylines, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law (above) said in an interview with Beijing-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po published on Friday. Law said the authorities must “remain vigilant” at all times and that safeguarding national security was an “ongoing process.”

It’s also unclear what level of age estimation error the government may be willing to accept in implementing a social media ban. The legislation says technology companies must demonstrate they have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent under 16s from holding social media accounts. What is considered “reasonable” is yet to be clearly defined.

In federal court in Central Islip, Renee Hoberman, also known as “Rina,” a licensed social worker, pleaded guilty to receipt and distribution of child pornography…. When sentenced, Hoberman faces a minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, and up to 20 years in prison.

Members of law enforcement agencies search for shooting suspect Vance Boelter at a house on June 15, 2025, in Belle Plaine, Minn.

House Bill 612, which sponsors call the Fostering Care in NC Act, would give the state more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable.

PIP, a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit, provides financial support to individuals living with long-term health conditions or disabilities to help cover their additional expenses. Recent DWP data obtained by Benefits and Work highlighted that people with back pain, arthritis, and other regional musculoskeletal diseases could be disproportionately affected by the changes. More than 70 percent of those receiving the daily living rate within these categories risk losing their entitlement, reports the Mirror.

Britain took a historic step towards allowing euthanasia on Friday when MPs backed contentious legislation that would introduce assisted dying for terminally ill people. Lawmakers in the lower House of Commons chamber voted 314 in favour to 291 to send the proposal to the upper House of Lords for further scrutiny following four hours of emotional debate.

London is a city that loves to dance after dark. These days, though, the music is fading. In the first two decades of the 2000s, the number of gay bars, pubs and nightclubs in the capital fell by a staggering 58 per cent—125 venues dwindled to just 53. The story is much the same in other places. In the United States, an average of 15 gay bars have closed every year since 2008. Today, there are 45 per cent fewer gay bars than in 2002. In 1976, there were 2,500 gay bars in just the U.S. Today, there are fewer than 1,400 worldwide.

“When AI/AN people are misclassified in life and in death, it distorts public health data and drives inequities even deeper,” said Star. “Accurate data isn’t just about numbers — it’s about honoring lives, holding systems accountable and making sure our communities are seen and served.” Above: The Taos Pueblo Cemetery in Taos, N.M., in 2023

A burgeoning writer’s zip code should not determine the quality of her education, but if she’s born in Greenwich, Connecticut instead of, say, western Kentucky, her prospects will be considerably altered.

Psychopathy sits at the uncomfortable intersection of mental illness and morality, with symptoms such as cruel behavior and remorselessness that inherently raise questions about the line between medicine and criminal law…. Treating adult psychopathy is extremely difficult, but there is hope for children with CU traits.

Isle of Wight council has been charged £29,000 per week for the placement in a semi-detached house leased by the local authority, at which the boy was the only resident. The home is not registered with Ofsted, the education and care watchdog, which makes operating it a criminal offence…. Social workers took the boy into care last year. He had been traumatised by witnessing domestic violence and deemed beyond parental control, and has since been placed in a series of illegal children’s homes.

The ASYE is a 12-month, employer-based programme of support and assessment for newly qualified social workers. It forms a vital part of Hull City Council’s approach to ‘growing our own’ social workers.

‘This decision is both cruel and calculated. We know from decades of research that LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.’ — Dr. Perry Halkitis, Rutgers School of Public Health

More than half a billion people around the world, including Mike (not his real name) have downloaded products such as Xiaoice and Replika, which offer customizable virtual companions designed to provide empathy, emotional support and — if the user wants it — deep relationships. And tens of millions of people use them every month, according to the firms’ figures.

The line of people in the post office is a mass of unimportant fools; it’s a felt injustice that you must wait while they bumble with their requests. The flight attendant is not a potentially interesting person with her own cares and struggles but instead the most available face of a corporation that stupidly insists you shut your phone. Custodians and secretaries are lazy complainers who rightly get the scut work. The person who disagrees with you at the staff meeting is an idiot to be shot down. Entering a subway is an exercise in nudging past the dumb schmoes.

We need a theory of jerks.

Seventy years after President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about the cost of a military-industrial complex, America is still stealing from its own people to fund a global empire…. It’s about preserving a military-industrial complex that profits from endless war, global policing, and foreign occupations—while the nation’s infrastructure crumbles and its people are neglected.

A monitor appointed by a federal court has found that a New York City Police Department unit has been unjustly stopping and searching New Yorkers, almost all of them Black and Hispanic men. The report on the NYPD’s Community Response Team echoes a recent ProPublica investigation that found the unit, championed by Mayor Eric Adams, has been ridden with abuses.

Governments worldwide are dramatically reshaping higher education, challenging long-held models and academic autonomy

As part of the administration’s efforts aimed at stopping diversity, equity and inclusion, the government has been restricting how it monitors public health. Along with cuts to federally funded research, the administration has targeted public health efforts to gather information about sexual orientation and gender identity.

“In interviews, veterans said the impact of the new policy would probably fall hardest on female veterans, LGBTQ+ veterans and those who live in rural areas where there are fewer doctors overall.”

The tragic case of Qianya “Amy” Huang, a 24-year-old San Francisco State University social work graduate who disappeared in early April, has been confirmed following her identification by Alameda County authorities after nearly two months of uncertainty. Huang’s case highlights concerning trends in Bay Area missing persons incidents, particularly those involving young adults and bridge-related disappearances.

Bitcoin, internet, EVs, private dinners for hire – the list of pay-for-play and quid quo pro goes on, and on … and on

Professor Lucie Cluver, also Honorary Professor in Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town and Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College, has led research to provide evidence to improve the lives of children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa for over 20 years.

The Labour Government has confirmed that it will be going against its campaign promise to raise foreign aid to 0.7 per cent of gross national income, and will instead be cutting it further to 0.3 per cent. Gloria Novović argues that the Government’s new framing of foreign aid as charity is a gross misrepresentation of the UK’s domestic and international commitments.

Chief social work adviser role will be put on statutory footing as part of creation of social work agency within Scottish Government, following passage of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill

It is not just a Spanish problem. Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with overtourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Barcelona Above: Demonstrators use water pistols during a protest against mass tourism

And as a scholar of terrorism and targeted violence, I believe a close reading of available data on military recruitment suggests U.S. gun violence may be largely to blame for the lack of interest in joining the military…. Very rarely are introspective questions publicly debated today about the objective attractiveness of military service or the appetite for violence among young people. The problem, I believe, is not that young people are insufficiently patriotic – it’s that they have already been fighting a war, daily, for their entire lives.

“It’s slash, slash, slash, slash,” said Dawn Godshall, chief executive officer of Community Action Lehigh Valley, summarizing the shrinking the federal bureaucracy… The nonprofit Community Action, known as CALV, serves a six-county area, administering programs that fight hunger, homelessness and other social ills.

This new role will provide strategic leadership for social work leaders and social work professionals in developing services and providing care and support to people from minority ethnic communities. Forming part of the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, the will help deliver change for people from minority ethnic communities. Singeta Kalhan-Gregory has accepted the position

“We won’t collect the crumbs falling from the tables of those who continue to enrich themselves stomping over people’s rights and freedoms, accumulating more and more wealth in their hands,” the group No Space for Bezos wrote… after the protest. “Oligarchs are not welcome in Venice.”

The Institute expressed satisfaction with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly in recognising and supporting the Institute’s role in institutionalising social work practice through the enactment of its charter. Above: President Bola Tinubu

Rather than creating an individualized “culture of giving,” we should be challenging capitalism’s institutionalized taking.

Immigrant parents are grappling with how much to share with their kids about ICE raids and the potential family risk. Experts say it’s important to keep an open dialogue with children, answer questions and check in on them consistently as the situation continues to unfold.

The authors contacted the journal and asked for “significant changes” to the article text and figures, including edits to the “statistical analysis, meta-analysis, discussion, figures and supplementary material,” plus the removal of two figures and the addition of four others, according to the retraction notice. In addition to changes to the article’s content, the requested corrections included a change in authorship.