CHILDREN AND FAMILY

Children and Family

Children and Family

In 2003 the government published a Green Paper called Every Child Matters. A Green Paper is a consultation document issued by the government on what they plan to do to and they invite interested organisations and individuals to send in their comments. Every Child Matters set out the government's vision and proposals for reforming the delivery of services for children, young people and families.

The tragic death of Victoria Climbié and the subsequent investigation, report and recommendations written by Lord Laming were taken into account in the writing of the Green Paper. The proposals aimed for the creation of a framework of universal services. These services would not only support every child in developing their full potential but would also prevent any negative outcomes. In other words the needs of children at risk would be addressed in the context of the quality of the services provided for all children and young people from birth to 19 living in England. The intended changes aim to reduce the numbers of children experiencing educational failure, engaging in offending or anti-social behaviour, suffering from ill health or becoming teenage parents.

Before writing the Green Paper the government consulted with a range of children, young people and families, who identified five outcomes which mattered most to them and that they felt were key to well-being in childhood and later life. These were:

Being healthy - enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle.

Staying safe - being protected from harm and neglect.

Enjoying and achieving - getting the most out of life and developing the skills for adulthood.

Making a positive contribution - being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour.

Economic well-being - not being prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential.

These five outcomes became the core of the Every Child Matters document and the government then described how these outcomes were to be achieved by focussing their action through four main areas:

Supporting parents and carers by improving parenting and family support through universal services.

Services described included schools, health and social services, childcare and targeted and specialist support to parents of children requiring additional support.

Early intervention and effective protection by improving information sharing between agencies.

This would be achieved by removing legislative and technical barriers to information sharing;

developing a common assessment framework;

on the spot service delivery by encouraging multi-professional teams to be based in and around schools and Children's Centres;

and introducing a lead professional. The lead professional's responsibility is to take the lead in case management across the agencies and be responsible for ensuring a coherent package of services;

Accountability and integration - locally, regionally and nationally. This would be achieved by:

organising services around children's needs;

and by legislating to create the post of Director of Children's Services who would be accountable for local authority education and children's social services.

integrating key services for children and young people under such a Director as ...