Child care order cases reveal themes of abuse

The misery of children finding nothing under the tree on Christmas morning while their mother slept off a hangover upstairs is just one of the heart-rending cases to feature in the latest batch of reports from the Child Care Law Reporting Project (CCLRP).

One of the children, a young girl, whose mother hit her and called her “a scruffy little knacker”, had run away from home to live with her grandfather but continued to fret about the welfare of her younger brother.

In a letter to the court she wrote: “I’m scared for my younger brother. Who is getting him dressed and bringing him to school?”