Please see the video below, which briefly outlines the legislation controls the government has been placing on our children's early years education (0-5yrs). The OpenEYE campaign (www.savechildhood.org) has raised awareness of this legislation, and demands our children's right to childhood.
Showing posts with label Children's Rights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Children's Rights. Show all posts
Monday, 29 March 2010
Thursday, 25 March 2010
No to Welfare Abolition - the national planning meeting
*No to Welfare Abolition - the national planning meeting*
Manchester University Students Union, *Steve Biko Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR, rooms MR1 and MR2*
Saturday 17th April Arrive 11.30am for 12 noon start. Finish 5.30pm.
Our rights to welfare are under attack from all sides. The Welfare Reform Act passed last year is making it harder for single parents, unemployed workers, people with illness, disabilities or impairments and carers to get by. High profile poster campaigns target 'benefit thieves', while benefit fraud is at a low and bankers escape the recession with billions of taxpayers' money.
17 April is our chance for welfare and disability rights activists, members of unemployed workers' groups and trade unionists to get to together, build links of solidarity and plan our struggles. If you are organising to defend welfare or want to start doing so, please make sure people from your group come along!
Free lunch will be provided.
Let us know you are coming by emailing *hackneyunemployedworkers@gmail.com*.
Contact *rebecca.galbraith@yahoo.co.uk* if you want to use the free creche.
Join the email discussion list here: * http://groups.google.com/group/no-to-welfare-abolition*
Manchester University Students Union, *Steve Biko Building, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PR, rooms MR1 and MR2*
Saturday 17th April Arrive 11.30am for 12 noon start. Finish 5.30pm.
Our rights to welfare are under attack from all sides. The Welfare Reform Act passed last year is making it harder for single parents, unemployed workers, people with illness, disabilities or impairments and carers to get by. High profile poster campaigns target 'benefit thieves', while benefit fraud is at a low and bankers escape the recession with billions of taxpayers' money.
17 April is our chance for welfare and disability rights activists, members of unemployed workers' groups and trade unionists to get to together, build links of solidarity and plan our struggles. If you are organising to defend welfare or want to start doing so, please make sure people from your group come along!
Free lunch will be provided.
Let us know you are coming by emailing *hackneyunemployedworkers@gmail.com*.
Contact *rebecca.galbraith@yahoo.co.uk* if you want to use the free creche.
Join the email discussion list here: * http://groups.google.com/group/no-to-welfare-abolition*
Friday, 11 December 2009
UK Government's Welfare Reform: Comments
Dear friends
We wanted you to see the letter from Single Mothers' Self-Defence and
WinVisible in
today’s Guardian (UK Newspaper), together with other letters. Below is what we were
responding to.
Please circulate widely.
Many thanks
_________________
Letters
Crackdown on fraud – and the vulnerable
The Guardian, Wednesday 9 December 2009
Minister Helen Goodman claims she agrees "that the early years of a
child's life are
so important" (Letters, 3 December). Yet Labour, with almost 100 women
MPs, many
calling themselves feminists, voted on 10 November for benefit sanctions
against
single parents of children aged three upwards, if they refused "work-related
activity". The "family-friendly" provisions Ms Goodman takes credit for
were won in
a knock-down fight in the Lords spearheaded by carers, including
breastfeeding
mothers, and women with disabilities. Labour already had in place that
mothers with
newborns had to report for "work-focused interviews". We won exemption from
interviews until the child is one; exemption from work-related activity,
if there is
no childcare; and for mothers of disabled children receiving any care
benefits,
among other concessions.
Better-off families can choose for one parent to stay at home, but
children from
low-income families are denied their right to care from someone who loves
them. Few
employers allow flexible working when teenage children need and deserve
attention.
At a recent single parents' conference, minister Yvette Cooper heard the
profound
problems mothers have of job insecurity, as well as discrimination against
part-time
workers. On top of coping alone with debt, high rents, stress, children's
behavioural problems, the enforced double day is a recipe for family
breakdown.
Professionals at the conference showed they know these problems inside
out, but they
do not protest publicly.
Kim Sparrow Single Mothers' Self-Defence
Claire Glasman WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)
• It's ironic that the day the government announced a blitz on benefit
fraud, our
39-year-old severely disabled daughter who has very high support needs
received a
summons for fraud, with a substantial penalty charge levied, in threatening
language, from our local NHS Fraud Office for a prescription from April. The
prescription was ticked in the appropriate box as free, as she has always
been in
receipt of free medication, as disabled from birth. She has lived at the same
address for 13 years, has not changed her GP and, unfortunately, is
reliant on
several medications that require constant repeat prescriptions that are
ongoing.
Fortunately we, as parents, are able to challenge this inexcusable action,
that was
seemingly made without any checks on who she was or her status. Now the
"blitz" is
being rolled out, how many other of our most vulnerable and poorest
citizens are
going to be treated in such a way, and traumatised in the run up to
Christmas?
Name and address supplied
• How will Tory plans to slash already inadequate benefits support people
suffering
from depression?
H Powell
Alvechurch, Worcestershire
Letters
Lone parents
The Guardian, Thursday 3 December 2009
Our policy towards parents is based on what's best for them and their
children –
putting family first (Time to grow emotionally, 2 December). We agree with
Sue
Gerhardt that the early years of a child's life are so important – that's
why we
won't require parents to go back to work before their child is seven. And
government
financial support for families during a child's first year, including
statutory
maternity pay, the Sure Start maternity grant, and the child tax credit is
now worth
over £9,000.
For lone parent mothers of children aged seven to 12 we are introducing new
family-friendly regulations which will make clear that parents can look for
part-time work or jobs that fit with school hours. Paid work is the best
and most
sustainable route out of poverty for families and also good for people's
health and
wellbeing, and their self-esteem. It's far too simplistic to say we're
forcing
people back to work – any expectations fit round childcare and
flexibilities that
help to protect the work-family life balance.
Helen Goodman MP
Parliamentary undersecretary, Department for Work and Pensions
Time to grow emotionally
Chasing parents back to work just when children need them most will be
costly in the
long run
Sue Gerhardt
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 December 2009 22.00 GMT
Everywhere, cuts are on the agenda. And not even the youngest, it seems,
escape
their impact. With the pre-budget report looming, it is particularly
disturbing to
consider that the manifesto pledge to extend maternity leave was the first
big
casualty of the Treasury's spending squeeze – suggesting it is seen as
Labour's most
expendable commitment.
Yet other government departments have in recent years acknowledged how early
parenting is the key to laying down the foundations for emotional
wellbeing. The
first two or three years are the crucial window when various systems which
manage
emotions are put into place. In particular, it is when we learn to exercise
self-control and to be aware of other people's needs. Without these basic
emotional
skills children may not grow up emotionally competent.
But to achieve this basic emotional literacy, babies need to be with
people they are
attached to well beyond nine months. They need to be with people who are
safe and
familiar, who know them well, respond to them quickly and, above all, love
them. The
idea that their main caregiver should be forced by economic necessity to
take paid
employment – or encouraged to let someone else manage their baby's emotional
development – is ludicrous.
As "JH", a single parent opposing proposals in the new welfare reform act,
wrote: "I
have the love and the commitment – why is that not recognised? I don't see
how
paying a stranger to care for him, while I seek similarly underpaid
part-time work
(perhaps even caring for someone else's children) will benefit either of us,
financially or otherwise."
The evidence is that it is highly unlikely to benefit her child –
particularly if he
is put into low-quality nursery care – since the earlier babies are put into
nurseries, and the longer they are there, the more likely their emotional
distress
will result in them being aggressive and difficult at school. Recent
research by
Clancy Blair at Pennsylvania State University also suggests that
children's academic
achievement is highly dependent on the emotional foundations that are put
in place
in the first couple of years.
Yet instead of moving towards greater support for early parenting, the
government is
sending the message that this is a luxury we cannot afford. Mothers should
leave
their babies and get back to earning money. The worthy goal of lifting
children out
of poverty is invoked. Of course we don't want children to feel excluded from
society, to suffer from their parents' financial anxieties, or to live in
communities of workless, frustrated adults. Yet it is simple-minded of the
government to conclude that forcing parents into work is the most
effective way to
end child poverty. Many chronic welfare dependents have themselves
experienced
economic deprivation, social exclusion and emotional trauma as children
and, as a
result, have become the teenage parents, the substance abusers, the
aggressive,
unreliable, under-qualified, psychosomatically ill, emotionally unskilled,
unemployable people who are such a financial burden to us all. Their own
emotional
difficulties often make it hard for them to offer their children the
loving, firm
parenting that is so essential for psychological wellbeing. But where is
the support
for such parents in the form of psychotherapy and parent-skills training
so that we
can stop the cycle of disadvantage?
The men in the Treasury are casting around for easy targets to balance
their books
and meet their child poverty targets. But they have lost sight of what really
matters. Children's wellbeing starts with positive early relationships
from birth.
This is one investment we must make, however expensive it is. In the long
run, we
will even save money.
Sue Gerhardt is a British psychoanalytic psychotherapist and author of Why
Love
Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain
We wanted you to see the letter from Single Mothers' Self-Defence and
WinVisible in
today’s Guardian (UK Newspaper), together with other letters. Below is what we were
responding to.
Please circulate widely.
Many thanks
_________________
Letters
Crackdown on fraud – and the vulnerable
The Guardian, Wednesday 9 December 2009
Minister Helen Goodman claims she agrees "that the early years of a
child's life are
so important" (Letters, 3 December). Yet Labour, with almost 100 women
MPs, many
calling themselves feminists, voted on 10 November for benefit sanctions
against
single parents of children aged three upwards, if they refused "work-related
activity". The "family-friendly" provisions Ms Goodman takes credit for
were won in
a knock-down fight in the Lords spearheaded by carers, including
breastfeeding
mothers, and women with disabilities. Labour already had in place that
mothers with
newborns had to report for "work-focused interviews". We won exemption from
interviews until the child is one; exemption from work-related activity,
if there is
no childcare; and for mothers of disabled children receiving any care
benefits,
among other concessions.
Better-off families can choose for one parent to stay at home, but
children from
low-income families are denied their right to care from someone who loves
them. Few
employers allow flexible working when teenage children need and deserve
attention.
At a recent single parents' conference, minister Yvette Cooper heard the
profound
problems mothers have of job insecurity, as well as discrimination against
part-time
workers. On top of coping alone with debt, high rents, stress, children's
behavioural problems, the enforced double day is a recipe for family
breakdown.
Professionals at the conference showed they know these problems inside
out, but they
do not protest publicly.
Kim Sparrow Single Mothers' Self-Defence
Claire Glasman WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)
• It's ironic that the day the government announced a blitz on benefit
fraud, our
39-year-old severely disabled daughter who has very high support needs
received a
summons for fraud, with a substantial penalty charge levied, in threatening
language, from our local NHS Fraud Office for a prescription from April. The
prescription was ticked in the appropriate box as free, as she has always
been in
receipt of free medication, as disabled from birth. She has lived at the same
address for 13 years, has not changed her GP and, unfortunately, is
reliant on
several medications that require constant repeat prescriptions that are
ongoing.
Fortunately we, as parents, are able to challenge this inexcusable action,
that was
seemingly made without any checks on who she was or her status. Now the
"blitz" is
being rolled out, how many other of our most vulnerable and poorest
citizens are
going to be treated in such a way, and traumatised in the run up to
Christmas?
Name and address supplied
• How will Tory plans to slash already inadequate benefits support people
suffering
from depression?
H Powell
Alvechurch, Worcestershire
Letters
Lone parents
The Guardian, Thursday 3 December 2009
Our policy towards parents is based on what's best for them and their
children –
putting family first (Time to grow emotionally, 2 December). We agree with
Sue
Gerhardt that the early years of a child's life are so important – that's
why we
won't require parents to go back to work before their child is seven. And
government
financial support for families during a child's first year, including
statutory
maternity pay, the Sure Start maternity grant, and the child tax credit is
now worth
over £9,000.
For lone parent mothers of children aged seven to 12 we are introducing new
family-friendly regulations which will make clear that parents can look for
part-time work or jobs that fit with school hours. Paid work is the best
and most
sustainable route out of poverty for families and also good for people's
health and
wellbeing, and their self-esteem. It's far too simplistic to say we're
forcing
people back to work – any expectations fit round childcare and
flexibilities that
help to protect the work-family life balance.
Helen Goodman MP
Parliamentary undersecretary, Department for Work and Pensions
Time to grow emotionally
Chasing parents back to work just when children need them most will be
costly in the
long run
Sue Gerhardt
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 1 December 2009 22.00 GMT
Everywhere, cuts are on the agenda. And not even the youngest, it seems,
escape
their impact. With the pre-budget report looming, it is particularly
disturbing to
consider that the manifesto pledge to extend maternity leave was the first
big
casualty of the Treasury's spending squeeze – suggesting it is seen as
Labour's most
expendable commitment.
Yet other government departments have in recent years acknowledged how early
parenting is the key to laying down the foundations for emotional
wellbeing. The
first two or three years are the crucial window when various systems which
manage
emotions are put into place. In particular, it is when we learn to exercise
self-control and to be aware of other people's needs. Without these basic
emotional
skills children may not grow up emotionally competent.
But to achieve this basic emotional literacy, babies need to be with
people they are
attached to well beyond nine months. They need to be with people who are
safe and
familiar, who know them well, respond to them quickly and, above all, love
them. The
idea that their main caregiver should be forced by economic necessity to
take paid
employment – or encouraged to let someone else manage their baby's emotional
development – is ludicrous.
As "JH", a single parent opposing proposals in the new welfare reform act,
wrote: "I
have the love and the commitment – why is that not recognised? I don't see
how
paying a stranger to care for him, while I seek similarly underpaid
part-time work
(perhaps even caring for someone else's children) will benefit either of us,
financially or otherwise."
The evidence is that it is highly unlikely to benefit her child –
particularly if he
is put into low-quality nursery care – since the earlier babies are put into
nurseries, and the longer they are there, the more likely their emotional
distress
will result in them being aggressive and difficult at school. Recent
research by
Clancy Blair at Pennsylvania State University also suggests that
children's academic
achievement is highly dependent on the emotional foundations that are put
in place
in the first couple of years.
Yet instead of moving towards greater support for early parenting, the
government is
sending the message that this is a luxury we cannot afford. Mothers should
leave
their babies and get back to earning money. The worthy goal of lifting
children out
of poverty is invoked. Of course we don't want children to feel excluded from
society, to suffer from their parents' financial anxieties, or to live in
communities of workless, frustrated adults. Yet it is simple-minded of the
government to conclude that forcing parents into work is the most
effective way to
end child poverty. Many chronic welfare dependents have themselves
experienced
economic deprivation, social exclusion and emotional trauma as children
and, as a
result, have become the teenage parents, the substance abusers, the
aggressive,
unreliable, under-qualified, psychosomatically ill, emotionally unskilled,
unemployable people who are such a financial burden to us all. Their own
emotional
difficulties often make it hard for them to offer their children the
loving, firm
parenting that is so essential for psychological wellbeing. But where is
the support
for such parents in the form of psychotherapy and parent-skills training
so that we
can stop the cycle of disadvantage?
The men in the Treasury are casting around for easy targets to balance
their books
and meet their child poverty targets. But they have lost sight of what really
matters. Children's wellbeing starts with positive early relationships
from birth.
This is one investment we must make, however expensive it is. In the long
run, we
will even save money.
Sue Gerhardt is a British psychoanalytic psychotherapist and author of Why
Love
Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
UK Welfare Reform: Urgent Action Needed to Support Single Mothers
Dear friends,
URGENT -- please take action by the end of Wednesday
Welfare Reform Bill-- protection for children under five overturned by MPs
MPs supporting the government tonight brutally overturned the amendment won in the Lords, which protected single parents of children under five from losing benefit for not doing work-related activity.
Single parent families could have their benefit cut by 40%.
This is an outrageous attack on single mothers who are looking after
children full-time.
236 MPs voted against the government, and some made clear that mothers caring work is a vital contribution to society.
It should be recognised not penalised.
Please write to the Lords who backed the amendment to urge them to keep this important protection for children, and let them know the strength of feeling in the community on this issue. Personal statements from mothers, fathers and carers are most convincing.
Lord Freud, the Conservative Lord who led on this amendment, will raise it again when the Bill goes back to the Lords on Thursday at 11.30am. We have another chance of defeating the government on their uncaring policy.
Fax number for the Lords: 020 7219 5979 (mark for the attention of the Peer you are writing to.)
(As time is short, please send your letters direct, don't rely on us to forward them, but do send us a copy at womenstrike8m@server101.com Fax 020 7209 4761)
Please write to:
Conservatives
Chris Scott
scottcg@parliament.uk Conservative Office, House of Lords has undertaken to pass on emails received by end of Wednesday.
Lord Freud
freudd@parliament.uk
Fax: 020 7219 5979 mark attention Lord Freud
Tel: 020 7219 4907
Lord Taylor of Holbeach CBE
Tel: 020 7219 4051
taylorjl@parliament.uk
Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE
Tel: 020 7219 5353
whitbycollins@parliament.uk
Liberal Democrats
Baroness Celia Thomas
Tel: 020 7219 3586
thomascm@parliament.uk
Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope
Fax: 020 7219 5979 mark Attention Lord Kirkwood (no email)
Crossbench
Lord Northbourne
Tel: 020 7219 3884
Fax: 020 7219 5933
northbournec@parliament.uk
URGENT -- please take action by the end of Wednesday
Welfare Reform Bill-- protection for children under five overturned by MPs
MPs supporting the government tonight brutally overturned the amendment won in the Lords, which protected single parents of children under five from losing benefit for not doing work-related activity.
Single parent families could have their benefit cut by 40%.
This is an outrageous attack on single mothers who are looking after
children full-time.
236 MPs voted against the government, and some made clear that mothers caring work is a vital contribution to society.
It should be recognised not penalised.
Please write to the Lords who backed the amendment to urge them to keep this important protection for children, and let them know the strength of feeling in the community on this issue. Personal statements from mothers, fathers and carers are most convincing.
Lord Freud, the Conservative Lord who led on this amendment, will raise it again when the Bill goes back to the Lords on Thursday at 11.30am. We have another chance of defeating the government on their uncaring policy.
Fax number for the Lords: 020 7219 5979 (mark for the attention of the Peer you are writing to.)
(As time is short, please send your letters direct, don't rely on us to forward them, but do send us a copy at womenstrike8m@server101.com Fax 020 7209 4761)
Please write to:
Conservatives
Chris Scott
scottcg@parliament.uk Conservative Office, House of Lords has undertaken to pass on emails received by end of Wednesday.
Lord Freud
freudd@parliament.uk
Fax: 020 7219 5979 mark attention Lord Freud
Tel: 020 7219 4907
Lord Taylor of Holbeach CBE
Tel: 020 7219 4051
taylorjl@parliament.uk
Baroness Morris of Bolton OBE
Tel: 020 7219 5353
whitbycollins@parliament.uk
Liberal Democrats
Baroness Celia Thomas
Tel: 020 7219 3586
thomascm@parliament.uk
Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope
Fax: 020 7219 5979 mark Attention Lord Kirkwood (no email)
Crossbench
Lord Northbourne
Tel: 020 7219 3884
Fax: 020 7219 5933
northbournec@parliament.uk
Sunday, 8 November 2009
Welfare Reform Bill: Update and Single Mothers
Mothers, carers, people with disabilities, victims of domestic violence … win
important changes in the Lords.
But some may be overturned on Tuesday when the Bill returns to the Commons. Join us
to press MPs to keep them.
Many important concessions have been won. Testimonies from those affected, among a
wealth of letters and evidence from organisations, including ours, were taken up by
Peers and journalists, forcing the government to shift. The government has publicly
agreed to some of the changes, but some remain under threat.
The Bill is coming back to the Commons on Tuesday 10 November.
ACTION YOU CAN TAKE: Phone and/or email your MP to urge them to keep the concessions
and to condemn the worst measures in the Bill.
House of Commons tel: 020 7219 3000 Find your MP
Most under threat:
· Single parents of children under five are entitled to care for our children
full-time without losing benefit for not doing “work-related activity”. We need to
press MPs not to overturn this. No mother should be forced to go out to work if she
feels her pre-school age children need her.
Changes likely to be approved:
· Single mothers/parents of children aged three to six. Single parents on
Income Support will be able to keep £50 earnings, up from £20. No “work-related
activity” will be compulsory outside school hours, childcare or term-time. Mothers
won’t have their benefit cut for missing “job seekers” appointments due to family
responsibilities. Parents of children under 12 claiming Job Seekers Allowance will
not have to work full-time and can reject jobs that do not fit within school hours.
· Parents. Jobcentre advisers and “back to work” staff must have regard for
the welfare of the child in what they tell parents to do.
· Carers. Single parents will be exempt from job seeking if their disabled
child under 16 receives any rate of Disability Living Allowance for care.
Previously, the government said the parent must work if a child is on the low rate
for care.
· Women fleeing domestic violence. A three-month exemption from job seeking.
Though not enough for recovery and settling distressed children, it is an
improvement over the previous discretionary decision by Jobcentre staff.
· It is illegal for anyone to be pressured into medical treatment. Jobcentre
or “back to work” staff will not be able to tell disabled people claiming Employment
and Support Allowance (including people with mental health problems) that they have
to take their prescription or undergo surgery. The government previously claimed
that some people are “wilfully keeping themselves unfit for work”. People with drug
and alcohol problems can be required to attend assessments and “motivation”
sessions, but cannot lose benefit for refusing rehabilitation or treatment.
Despite these changes, the Bill takes away many of our rights:
It abolishes Income Support. This is the main benefit which acknowledges unwaged
caring work by single mothers and other carers.
It wipes out entitlement based on need and brings in US-style workfare. Couples
with young children must both seek work. Almost all claimants of working age must
look for a job or engage in a “work-related activity”. Those who cannot find a job
will have to “work for their benefits”, i.e. for £1.60 an hour. Forcing more people
to chase scarce jobs, while allowing employers to bypass the minimum wage, lowers
everyone’s wages. Councils looking to cut costs are already preparing for workfare
staff. Those of us who do not or cannot comply are threatened with destitution.
Asylum seekers were the first to be made destitute, and this inhuman standard is
being extended to others.
It introduces compulsory joint birth registration even where the father is violent.
If the mother has no official proof of his violence (a common situation) she will be
forced to give his name. Mothers of newborns should not have to worry about going
to court to stop the father abusing his parental rights to persecute her and the
child.
It expands charging for disability services which local authorities are allowed to
deduct at source from disabled people’s personal budgets. While many disability
groups welcome “the right to control” in the Welfare Reform Bill, the new percentage
charging system discriminates against those with severe disabilities, who pay more
from bigger budgets.
We are determined to defend our entitlement to benefits and free high-quality
services. Many people have signed up to a letter condemning the abolition of Income
Support. Add your name. LINK
Contact us for more info:
Single Mothers’ Self-Defence centre@crossroadswomen.net
WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities) winvisible@allwomencount.net
Global Women’s Strike womenstrike8m@server101.com
Legal Action for Women law@allwomencount.net
Tel: 020 7482 2496 www.allwomencount.net www.globalwomenstrike.net
important changes in the Lords.
But some may be overturned on Tuesday when the Bill returns to the Commons. Join us
to press MPs to keep them.
Many important concessions have been won. Testimonies from those affected, among a
wealth of letters and evidence from organisations, including ours, were taken up by
Peers and journalists, forcing the government to shift. The government has publicly
agreed to some of the changes, but some remain under threat.
The Bill is coming back to the Commons on Tuesday 10 November.
ACTION YOU CAN TAKE: Phone and/or email your MP to urge them to keep the concessions
and to condemn the worst measures in the Bill.
House of Commons tel: 020 7219 3000 Find your MP
Most under threat:
· Single parents of children under five are entitled to care for our children
full-time without losing benefit for not doing “work-related activity”. We need to
press MPs not to overturn this. No mother should be forced to go out to work if she
feels her pre-school age children need her.
Changes likely to be approved:
· Single mothers/parents of children aged three to six. Single parents on
Income Support will be able to keep £50 earnings, up from £20. No “work-related
activity” will be compulsory outside school hours, childcare or term-time. Mothers
won’t have their benefit cut for missing “job seekers” appointments due to family
responsibilities. Parents of children under 12 claiming Job Seekers Allowance will
not have to work full-time and can reject jobs that do not fit within school hours.
· Parents. Jobcentre advisers and “back to work” staff must have regard for
the welfare of the child in what they tell parents to do.
· Carers. Single parents will be exempt from job seeking if their disabled
child under 16 receives any rate of Disability Living Allowance for care.
Previously, the government said the parent must work if a child is on the low rate
for care.
· Women fleeing domestic violence. A three-month exemption from job seeking.
Though not enough for recovery and settling distressed children, it is an
improvement over the previous discretionary decision by Jobcentre staff.
· It is illegal for anyone to be pressured into medical treatment. Jobcentre
or “back to work” staff will not be able to tell disabled people claiming Employment
and Support Allowance (including people with mental health problems) that they have
to take their prescription or undergo surgery. The government previously claimed
that some people are “wilfully keeping themselves unfit for work”. People with drug
and alcohol problems can be required to attend assessments and “motivation”
sessions, but cannot lose benefit for refusing rehabilitation or treatment.
Despite these changes, the Bill takes away many of our rights:
It abolishes Income Support. This is the main benefit which acknowledges unwaged
caring work by single mothers and other carers.
It wipes out entitlement based on need and brings in US-style workfare. Couples
with young children must both seek work. Almost all claimants of working age must
look for a job or engage in a “work-related activity”. Those who cannot find a job
will have to “work for their benefits”, i.e. for £1.60 an hour. Forcing more people
to chase scarce jobs, while allowing employers to bypass the minimum wage, lowers
everyone’s wages. Councils looking to cut costs are already preparing for workfare
staff. Those of us who do not or cannot comply are threatened with destitution.
Asylum seekers were the first to be made destitute, and this inhuman standard is
being extended to others.
It introduces compulsory joint birth registration even where the father is violent.
If the mother has no official proof of his violence (a common situation) she will be
forced to give his name. Mothers of newborns should not have to worry about going
to court to stop the father abusing his parental rights to persecute her and the
child.
It expands charging for disability services which local authorities are allowed to
deduct at source from disabled people’s personal budgets. While many disability
groups welcome “the right to control” in the Welfare Reform Bill, the new percentage
charging system discriminates against those with severe disabilities, who pay more
from bigger budgets.
We are determined to defend our entitlement to benefits and free high-quality
services. Many people have signed up to a letter condemning the abolition of Income
Support. Add your name. LINK
Contact us for more info:
Single Mothers’ Self-Defence centre@crossroadswomen.net
WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities) winvisible@allwomencount.net
Global Women’s Strike womenstrike8m@server101.com
Legal Action for Women law@allwomencount.net
Tel: 020 7482 2496 www.allwomencount.net www.globalwomenstrike.net
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Petition for reuniting African mums and kids seeking asylum in UK
Dear Friends,
We are writing to introduce you to The Mothers’ Campaign of the All African Women’s
Group. We are mothers who have had to flee to the UK leaving our children behind in
our home country. We left our children when we saw they would be safer without us.
(We enclose our leaflet below.)
We are launching a petition with our demands for family reunion and invite you to sign it at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MumsKids/petition.html
We are gathering signatures between now and Mothers’ Day in March next year. We
would very much appreciate your support and hope you can initially help us by
circulating the petition amongst your friends, family and network.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require any further information.
Yours
Jeto Flaviah
The Mothers’ Campaign of the All African Women’s Group
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mothers & children seeking asylum
We are mothers who have had to flee to the UK leaving our children behind in our
home country. Our lives were at risk – most of us have been through rape and other
torture; some of us have seen family members killed. We left our children when we
saw they would be safer without us. We didn’t know where we were going, or how, or
if we would survive.
When we claim asylum we are not recognised as mothers who are suffering separation
from their children. Even when we win the right to stay, we still face the pain of
being prevented from reuniting our family.
"We are consumed by guilt and worry. Every meal we eat we think of whether our
children have food. But our love for them is also what keeps us going. Sometimes you
feel so hopeless, you want to end your life but knowing your children need you is
what makes you keep fighting.”
We sometimes lose contact with children back home. Or we hear of them suffering
without our protection – living on the streets after caring relatives have died;
taken by the military; or even turning to pick-pocketing and prostitution to survive
and feed the younger ones.
We have hardly enough to feed ourselves but we do all we can to send money home for
them. And if we don’t know where they are, we raise money to search for them. We do
low-paid, illegal work or even sleep with men for money for them.
But if our kids turn 18 while we wait – often for years – for an asylum claim to be
settled, we lose the right for them to join us.
This government talks so much about the importance of families and claims that
“Every child matters”, yet our children are denied their mothers’ love and
protection. None of the media stories about missing children which highlight the
parents’ distress, even mention what we and our children are going through.
We are writing to introduce you to The Mothers’ Campaign of the All African Women’s
Group. We are mothers who have had to flee to the UK leaving our children behind in
our home country. We left our children when we saw they would be safer without us.
(We enclose our leaflet below.)
We are launching a petition with our demands for family reunion and invite you to sign it at:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/MumsKids/petition.html
We are gathering signatures between now and Mothers’ Day in March next year. We
would very much appreciate your support and hope you can initially help us by
circulating the petition amongst your friends, family and network.
Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you require any further information.
Yours
Jeto Flaviah
The Mothers’ Campaign of the All African Women’s Group
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mothers & children seeking asylum
We are mothers who have had to flee to the UK leaving our children behind in our
home country. Our lives were at risk – most of us have been through rape and other
torture; some of us have seen family members killed. We left our children when we
saw they would be safer without us. We didn’t know where we were going, or how, or
if we would survive.
When we claim asylum we are not recognised as mothers who are suffering separation
from their children. Even when we win the right to stay, we still face the pain of
being prevented from reuniting our family.
"We are consumed by guilt and worry. Every meal we eat we think of whether our
children have food. But our love for them is also what keeps us going. Sometimes you
feel so hopeless, you want to end your life but knowing your children need you is
what makes you keep fighting.”
We sometimes lose contact with children back home. Or we hear of them suffering
without our protection – living on the streets after caring relatives have died;
taken by the military; or even turning to pick-pocketing and prostitution to survive
and feed the younger ones.
We have hardly enough to feed ourselves but we do all we can to send money home for
them. And if we don’t know where they are, we raise money to search for them. We do
low-paid, illegal work or even sleep with men for money for them.
But if our kids turn 18 while we wait – often for years – for an asylum claim to be
settled, we lose the right for them to join us.
This government talks so much about the importance of families and claims that
“Every child matters”, yet our children are denied their mothers’ love and
protection. None of the media stories about missing children which highlight the
parents’ distress, even mention what we and our children are going through.
We demand...
- To be recognised as mothers, with dependent children
- That when the government grants amnesty to families with children here – their
right to stay without having to establish a fear of persecution – that we, together
with our children back home, must also have a right to family amnesty. Though we
are divided, we are a family.
When we win our right to stay we demand...
- Unconditional right to family reunion to everyone who wins the right to stay in the
UK (whether under the refugee convention, humanitarian protection, human rights act,
legacy process or other grounds). - The right of children to join their mother even if they turned 18 before her asylum
claim was settled.
We urge British embassies/high commissions in our home countries to show their
commitment to families by helping to find our missing children and reunite them with
their mothers.
"Mummy, you are the only person I have to save me from everything I’m going
through. Thomas screams every night. . . . I don’t even know what to say about
Michael but he’s a baby boy who needs his mummy right now.” (Letter from a teenage girl whose mother was forced to leave her four children behind).
For more information, including how you can help, contact:
All African Women’s Group, aawg02@googlemail.com
Crossroads Women’s Centre, 230a Kentish Town Rd
London NW5 2AB, Tel: 020 7482 2496
All African Women's Group<>
Monday, 24 August 2009
London Radical Childcare Collective
Hello! From the Radical Childcare Collective.
We are an autonomous collective of anti-capitalist people (men, women, children, parents, educators and also including those who have no personal childcare responsibilities). We are dedicated activists in various fields (social and environmental justice groups, anarchist and feminist groups, anti-poverty and anti-deportation groups, radical education and home education groups, to name but a few). We meet regularly in a child-friendly space in Hackney, East London.
The group came together out of concern about the lack of enthusiasm in our activist scenes around providing space, resources, support and time for kids and their parents/carers to be involved in their scenes. The Radical Childcare Collective acknowledges the political importance of children, carers and childcare both in mainstream society, and in our own alternative movements.
We want to spread this movement of ours, yet we don’t make our activism accessible to parents, carers and children. Parents are often left out because of lack of childcare, meetings being held in inaccessible locations at inaccessible times and also because they can be devalued by members of our 'activist' communities. Many of the women in this country are mothers, yet groups don’t prioritise or always provide childcare at meetings. Maybe a meeting isn’t the most suitable place for children, but if parents are going to be there then we need to accept that children will be too, and sort out ways to deal with it, and there are many positive ways that this can be done.
We also believe that other parents shouldn’t be the only people interested in childcare- it should be an integral part of our community, as important as all the actions, as important as providing disabled access to events, and as important as banning other discriminatory behaviour (sexism, racism) from our groups.
Children should both be seen and heard! They have played a crucial role in social movements around the world from anti-apartheid to squatting and traveller movements, from environmental protests to Zapatista social justice resistances. Children can be vibrant, creative, inspiring and clever. They should be involved in decision-making and respected as part of this community, with valuable insights and energy. Children are a vital part of our movement, yet are often not included in our organising.
We need to consider the many benefits children gain from being involved with activism, and –in return- what we gain from them being involved. Why are we social, environmental, and political activists if not for future generations? Involve children in your activism! They are the future, you are their inspiration, and together we must fight for a better world.
Mainstream society and schooling does not provide our children with the education that they need or deserve. For kids to actually be involved in environmental groups/events/actions, to be organising alongside positive adult role-models, and to be understanding alternative ways of working and socialising together- it privileges and reaches them on a much deeper level. For example, much more than hearing mainstream adults or school geography classes that just pay lip service to ‘eco-living’.
The Radical Childcare Collective hopes to be one step towards the more child, parent and carer-friendly world that we all deserve to live in. We are interested in not only providing childcare for meetings and events, but more importantly we are dedicated to the process of actively including children in our social, political and environmental movements, and bringing awareness of these issues to other positive activist groups in these fields.
Please contact londonradicalkidscollective@aktivix.org for more information and for details of the next meeting.
We are an autonomous collective of anti-capitalist people (men, women, children, parents, educators and also including those who have no personal childcare responsibilities). We are dedicated activists in various fields (social and environmental justice groups, anarchist and feminist groups, anti-poverty and anti-deportation groups, radical education and home education groups, to name but a few). We meet regularly in a child-friendly space in Hackney, East London.
The group came together out of concern about the lack of enthusiasm in our activist scenes around providing space, resources, support and time for kids and their parents/carers to be involved in their scenes. The Radical Childcare Collective acknowledges the political importance of children, carers and childcare both in mainstream society, and in our own alternative movements.
We want to spread this movement of ours, yet we don’t make our activism accessible to parents, carers and children. Parents are often left out because of lack of childcare, meetings being held in inaccessible locations at inaccessible times and also because they can be devalued by members of our 'activist' communities. Many of the women in this country are mothers, yet groups don’t prioritise or always provide childcare at meetings. Maybe a meeting isn’t the most suitable place for children, but if parents are going to be there then we need to accept that children will be too, and sort out ways to deal with it, and there are many positive ways that this can be done.
We also believe that other parents shouldn’t be the only people interested in childcare- it should be an integral part of our community, as important as all the actions, as important as providing disabled access to events, and as important as banning other discriminatory behaviour (sexism, racism) from our groups.
Children should both be seen and heard! They have played a crucial role in social movements around the world from anti-apartheid to squatting and traveller movements, from environmental protests to Zapatista social justice resistances. Children can be vibrant, creative, inspiring and clever. They should be involved in decision-making and respected as part of this community, with valuable insights and energy. Children are a vital part of our movement, yet are often not included in our organising.
We need to consider the many benefits children gain from being involved with activism, and –in return- what we gain from them being involved. Why are we social, environmental, and political activists if not for future generations? Involve children in your activism! They are the future, you are their inspiration, and together we must fight for a better world.
Mainstream society and schooling does not provide our children with the education that they need or deserve. For kids to actually be involved in environmental groups/events/actions, to be organising alongside positive adult role-models, and to be understanding alternative ways of working and socialising together- it privileges and reaches them on a much deeper level. For example, much more than hearing mainstream adults or school geography classes that just pay lip service to ‘eco-living’.
The Radical Childcare Collective hopes to be one step towards the more child, parent and carer-friendly world that we all deserve to live in. We are interested in not only providing childcare for meetings and events, but more importantly we are dedicated to the process of actively including children in our social, political and environmental movements, and bringing awareness of these issues to other positive activist groups in these fields.
Please contact londonradicalkidscollective@aktivix.org for more information and for details of the next meeting.
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
Home Educators: we're part of your community!
The government wants to give local council officers the right to enter our home and question children alone, just because we home educate.
There is no evidence that home educated children are more at risk than children educated at school.
The new proposals are disproportionate and unnecessary. They infringe our, and our children's, rights.
Please sign the petition at
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/EHEreview/
If you have friends, neighbours, colleagues or customers who educate their children outside the school system, please send a card to your MP to reassure them that
home educated children are not hidden- they are part of your community
[by home educators in Brighton. Please see our other blogposts with the label 'home education' for more information]
There is no evidence that home educated children are more at risk than children educated at school.
The new proposals are disproportionate and unnecessary. They infringe our, and our children's, rights.
Please sign the petition at
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/EHEreview/
If you have friends, neighbours, colleagues or customers who educate their children outside the school system, please send a card to your MP to reassure them that
home educated children are not hidden- they are part of your community
[by home educators in Brighton. Please see our other blogposts with the label 'home education' for more information]
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
URGENT: Lewisham School Eviction Order Tommorrow!
Parents in London have been occupying their children's empty primary school in protest at Lewisham councils plans to demolish the (now grade 2 listed building) school to make way for an exclusive school run by the ancient society of Leathersellers (the society sounds more akin to the Illuminati and their secret handshakes, than those selling tanned hydes...)An eviction order has been served for tommorrow wednesday 24th june at 10.30am.
They need as much support as possible to resist eviction: please head down there tommorrow in support of the parents, kids and their community campaign.
Lewisham is in South-East London. See this link for more info: http://london.indymedia.org.uk/events/1670
This link is to their blog: http://defendeducationlewisham.wordpress.com/
In support and solidarity.
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Home Education after the recent Badman Report
Hi all
I just wanted to let people know about the changes to Home Education after the Graham Badman Report came out this week and how it compromises the rights of all children in the UK.
Ed Ball wants to go ahead and implement changes immediately... this means we have got very little time to stand up against this.
I have put together the website to be user friendly and specially aimed at anyone that has missed the report or thinks that because their child is not home educated this does not effect them, it actually has serious implications for all children in the UK and their right to privacy and their life decisions.
This is the link to the website: Home Education after the Badman Report.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 16: Children have the right to privacy. The law should protect them from attacks against their way of life, their good name, their families and their homes.
Graham Badman report on Elective Home Education.
Reccommendation 7: that designated Local Authority officers should have the right to access the home and to speak with the child alone without parents present and without their consent...
There has been a lot of bad press lately about home educated children being at risk of abuse, but as there is no evidence or any cases of this Graham Badman has had to state this in his report, however he still went on to change the law as if this was the case.
The NSPCC apologised publically recently about associating abuse with home education, you can find a link to this on the webpage.
Please try and consider Graham Badman's proposals and the wider implications and the loss of rights due to this report, if you feel strongly enough then please do write to your MP's, fill in the survey, write to Ed Ball or reply to the consultation. (links can be found on the website.)
Thank you for taking the time to read this and please do forward this information, so many bills are passed these days without people being aware of the changes in their rights.
Peace and Love
Christine, Jonathan and Cherry.
I just wanted to let people know about the changes to Home Education after the Graham Badman Report came out this week and how it compromises the rights of all children in the UK.
Ed Ball wants to go ahead and implement changes immediately... this means we have got very little time to stand up against this.
I have put together the website to be user friendly and specially aimed at anyone that has missed the report or thinks that because their child is not home educated this does not effect them, it actually has serious implications for all children in the UK and their right to privacy and their life decisions.
This is the link to the website: Home Education after the Badman Report.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 16: Children have the right to privacy. The law should protect them from attacks against their way of life, their good name, their families and their homes.
Graham Badman report on Elective Home Education.
Reccommendation 7: that designated Local Authority officers should have the right to access the home and to speak with the child alone without parents present and without their consent...
There has been a lot of bad press lately about home educated children being at risk of abuse, but as there is no evidence or any cases of this Graham Badman has had to state this in his report, however he still went on to change the law as if this was the case.
The NSPCC apologised publically recently about associating abuse with home education, you can find a link to this on the webpage.
Please try and consider Graham Badman's proposals and the wider implications and the loss of rights due to this report, if you feel strongly enough then please do write to your MP's, fill in the survey, write to Ed Ball or reply to the consultation. (links can be found on the website.)
Thank you for taking the time to read this and please do forward this information, so many bills are passed these days without people being aware of the changes in their rights.
Peace and Love
Christine, Jonathan and Cherry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)