LGA Chairman gives keynote speech on child protection

LGA media release - 26 November 2008

In a major keynote speech today, the Chairman of the Local Government Association will issue a stark warning that a knee-jerk reaction to the latest child abuse tragedy risks derailing the work of those dedicated to protecting society’s most vulnerable children.

Addressing a special summit on the issue of child protection, Cllr Margaret Eaton will tell delegates that unless considered steps are taken then there will be irreparable, long-term damage done to the services that keep the majority of the country’s youngsters safe from harm.

Cllr Eaton will call for a more balanced debate about child protection as there is concern that some staff may walk away from the profession following the tragic death.

To prevent well-meaning policy changes ending up doing longer term damage to the system that supports thousands of children every year, Cllr Eaton will call for a ‘pause for thought’ to ensure that any steps to protect children will not ruin society.

She will say that people who may have considered a career protecting the thousands of children who are at risk are now in danger of being scared away, worsening on-going problems with recruitment and retention and leaving serious gaps in the safety net.

She will also express fears that there may be many more children taken into care, some unnecessarily, and an increased number of families split up which might otherwise have been helped to work through their problems.

Councils will be urged to examine their own commitment to vulnerable children and ensure measures to keep them safe are at the heart of everything they do.

Although only four nations in the world have fewer child murders per head of population than the UK and there has been a forty per cent reduction in child deaths among under fives in the last fifteen years, the emphasis needs to be on improving these figures further still, she will tell assembled delegates.

Cllr Eaton will announce she has written to the Prime Minister spelling out how the Local Government Association intends to support councils in strengthening the vital work they do on child protection. A five point plan will also be unveiled at the summit to help ensure that councils can continue to protect children in the short and long term.

The five point plan, which will be discussed at the summit later today, will include:-

• A package of reforms to make it easier for councils to shift services more towards prevention and early intervention
• A programme on child protection and safeguarding that gives councils access to best possible advice
• A call to the government for increased investment in children’s social work in the medium term, to ensure councils can recruit and retain high calibre people in the longer term. In the shorter term we will propose changes to the structure of children’s services funding to help councils employ more children’s social work staff
• A need for Ofsted to discuss with councils how it can most effectively assess the quality of child protection practice, and support councils and other local partners in terms of service improvement
• Improving the links between child protection and the care system.

Speaking at “The Chairman’s Summit: Protecting Children Without Ruining Society”, Cllr Margaret Eaton will say:

“These sad events shine a light on the onerous responsibility councils bear in working with the most vulnerable children and families, and the equally onerous responsibility we ask individual members of staff, children’s social workers especially, to carry on our behalf.

“But let us be clear. Poor performance at the frontline in any of our services must be effectively challenged, in this area above all, and where good support does not result in improvement it has to be dealt with firmly. But that’s no excuse for a witch-hunt, which is not only unreasonable, but also threatens to be seriously counter-productive.

“There is a risk now that we repeat the depressing pattern of the past and have a short, intensive period of soul-searching and recrimination, followed by a far longer period of relative silence.

“The result is that while the tough, remorseless work of protecting children will continue, it will do so without the benefit of intelligent reflection, sustained focus and the significantly increased investment that is needed, if we’re to do it as well as we possibly can.

“If we don’t work hard to maintain an objective and balanced approach, we’ll find the numbers of children entering care rising sharply, with some children who are objectively better off staying with their families unable, any longer, to do so, as the system becomes unreasonably risk-averse.

“If these things come to pass we’ll ruin our chances of improving the lives of the most vulnerable children, we’ll damage families - the foundation of our society - and we’ll sabotage our efforts to make the system for protecting children more effective.

“People make a positive choice to work with the most vulnerable children because they want to make a difference, but, if we’re not careful, we’ll create a climate in which the costs of entering this area of public service so massively outweigh the benefits that we will force good potential entrants to the children’s workforce to think again.

“Striving to maintain the status quo is not nearly good enough; we have to aspire to reduce the numbers of children who suffer and die in this country as a result of abuse and neglect, and we must never be complacent about the need to do more to improve the services that work with the children at greatest risk.

“There are no simple or easy answers to the challenge of protecting the most vulnerable children, only a relentless focus on doing the best we possibly can, at every level and in every service.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

A full copy of her speech is available on request.

WHEN: 1030am – 1120am, Wednesday 26th November 2008
WHERE: Bevin Hall, Local Government House, Smith Square, London SW1P 3HZ