Month: August 2022

Source: Welsh Government 

Date: 17 August 2022

The Welsh Government has opened a consultation on proposed changes to legislation around health and social care. Areas covered by the consultation include changes aimed at eliminating profit making from the care of looked after children, and extending mandatory reporting of children and adults at risk. The consultation will close on 07 November 2022.

Read the press release: Consultation launched on improving social care services
Access the consultation: Proposed changes to legislation on social care and continuing health care

Source: Guardian

Date: 25 August 2022

The Guardian has released a Science Weekly podcast looking at mental health issues among adolescents in the UK. The podcast discusses increases in teenagers reporting mental health concerns and explores the support offered in schools. 

Listen to the podcast: What’s going on with UK teenagers’ mental health?

Romance scams are becoming increasingly common, particularly in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. According to Action Fraud, 8,863 cases of romance fraud were reported to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau in the UK between November 2020 and October 2021, with a total of £92 million stolen from innocent people who were simply searching for love. Those looking to start online relationships between Christmas and Valentine’s Day are apparently most at risk, with a spike of 901 reports recorded in March last year.

“We’re naturally susceptible to romance scams because of our desire to fall in love,” says therapist Marisa Peer. “We’re very influenced by media [representations] of the ‘tall dark stranger’ coming to sweep us off our feet,” she explains. “We’re wired to believe we’re going to find our other half and live happily ever after. Logically, we know this isn’t true but when we’re in a battle of emotion and logic, the logical side of our brain doesn’t often win. When it comes to love, we make emotional decisions, not logical ones.”

https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/female-victims-tinder-swindler-netflix

In psychology, the dark triad traits — which include narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism — have been found to predict a wide array of behaviours and interpersonal tendencies. 

Research indicates these behaviours and interpersonal tendencies are often expressed through a lack of moral concern and aggression following provocation and impulsivity — all of which were displayed by Sorokin and Leviev.

Convincing themselves and others of their psychopathic fiction, the “art of the con” that both Sorokin and Leviev proficiently performed was reliant on a system of prevailing gender norms. 

Leviev used the ideals of patriarchal masculinity to seduce his female victims, while Sorokin used the idea of feminine innocence to elude any sense scrutiny from her victims.

https://theconversation.com/the-art-of-the-con-inventing-anna-the-tinder-swindler-and-gender-177121

This is a major step forward and we thank Ministers wholeheartedly for its enlightened inclusion.

There is, however, a concerted effort to remove it. Repeated media coverage in the Guardian and Channel 4 Dispatches which is designed to convince us all that it is ONLY used as a ‘tool for abusive fathers’ to revictimize abused mothers.

Domestic Abuse Act 2021 must retain parental alienation in Guidance Notes