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Issue of the day: Child welfare
Party spokesmen set out their policies on child welfare.
Labour: Children's minister Margaret Hodge
At the heart of everything we do lies our determination to ensure that every child has the very best start in life.
We want to maximise opportunity for every child and we want to minimise risk to every child. We want to make sure that every child, whatever their background, whatever their individual circumstances, enjoys an equal chance to develop their potential, and we want to ensure that no child falls through the net.
This is why we think it is so important to invest in the early years of a child’s life, before so many life chances get missed, and so much potential is curtailed.
This is why in all our policies, and very much in the early years, we want to shift the emphasis of all we do on providing the support and the intervention not just when things go wrong, but before things go wrong; preventing children from falling through the net, giving them, through Sure Start, through early years education, and through sensitive and appropriate family services, that preventative infrastructure which will enhance life chances.
That is the first purpose, but the second purpose is to provide real choice. Choice for parents – choice that all too many parents find is denied to them when without any local, affordable, flexible, high quality and accessible childcare, they find themselves without proper options.
Our third purpose is to provide an infrastructure in our communities through these services which enhance and strengthen the communities in which we all live.
Our ambition is to build that universal infrastructure in 10 years, which is incredibly ambitious. We have had about six or seven years already but we want to complete it in 10, so it is a tough, ambitious challenge that we have set ourselves. This is supported by an enormous investment from government.
High quality services for young children and families will strengthen families, strengthen communities and enhance the life chances of every individual living in those communities. Now is the time, to start the work to realise our dream.
The above text was taken from a speech delivered on February 1, 2005.
Conservative: Shadow secretary of state for the family Theresa May
Throughout the course of the last decade, the number of children in care has increased from 49,300 in 1994 to 61,100 in 2004. Politicians from all parties accept that more needs to be done for these children.
It is true that the government has taken some action to address the issue. It has been successful in ensuring the number of looked after children adopted from care has risen from 2,700 in 2000 to 3,700 in 2004. It has introduced legislation aimed at dealing with the worst inadequacies of the system, and has at least begun to stem the tide of children newly taken into care.
However, there is much more to be done. The total number of children in care is at the highest level ever at over 61,000. The number of children taken into care due to abuse or neglect remains unacceptably high – 62 per cent of children in care are there due to physical or sexual abuse, mistreatment or neglect. The government has not been able to bring about a reduction in this proportion.
The number of those in care for longer than twelve months is also increasing. Children are spending unacceptably long periods in care before families can be found for fostering or adoption. A child taken into care on his fifth birthday can wait almost two and a half years before a suitable foster family is found.
Furthermore, despite the government's success at increasing the number of those adopted from care, this still represents a mere six per cent of all looked after children, an increase of less than 1.5 per cent in four years.
It does not need to be like this. Conservative-controlled Kent County Council has presided over a massive 91 per cent decline in the length of time children spend on the Child Protection Register. It has substantially increased the number of looked after children placed for adoption, and reduced the number of looked after children by 20 per cent in just three years.
If the government does not approach the problem of looked after children in an open and transparent manner, and fails to see these children as vulnerable and needing help, as opposed to failed targets to be hushed up, then we risk creating a generation of thousands, devoid of education and prospects.
Liberal Democrats: Spokesman on children Annette Brooke
Adoption is an enormously complex subject. It invariably involves the most vulnerable children in society. Where the state is responsible for the welfare and the wellbeing of children, it is a reflection of our society of how we treat them and how we manage the situation they find themselves in.
Increasingly, children who need to be adopted are in the care of social services, either in foster care or are looked after children, and many have had difficult experiences in their early lives. Now, and for far too long, these vulnerable children and young people have had the worst education, health and social outcomes.
Above all, any adoption or fostering policy should put the safety, stability and security of the child at its heart as the first step to improving his or her life chances. A civilised and developed nation should put this commitment highest on its agenda.
Liberal Democrats believe that targets – whether for the number of placements and adoptions or for waiting times – are useful as monitoring devices, but when they become an end in themselves, policy and procedures may be diverted to meet them.
Some people believe that the introduction of adoption targets has kick-started the process of focussing the minds of social services departments on the need to improve and speed up adoption services, which is a positive development, but quality of the placements must not be compromised. Also, it must not be forgotten that adoptive parent assessments and child placement are just the beginning – post adoptive support is often vital for a successful placement.
Another priority that we would pursue as Liberal Democrats, is the importance of concurrent planning. This allows a child to be placed on an interim basis with carers who can, if the need arises, become his or her permanent carers, and move to adoption.
Scientific evidence proves that brain development is closely related to care, attention and love in the early years. Emotional neglect of the young can, and does, lead to serious emotional and social problems in a person’s later life.
Children's services are of paramount importance, with enough investment to ensure the highest quality of care. Investment in care from a child's early years can help reduce social problems in later life. Highly trained social workers and sufficient resources to ensure high quality assessments and placements with families are necessary, as is a better co-ordinated approach to working with the voluntary sector
The above texts are edited versions of articles which first appeared in The House Magazine.
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