Issue 52 ..a promise to strengthen child protection
Donna Ohdedar - Review Consulting Ltd
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We now have pledges from the King’s Speech & the appointment of Bridget Phillipson who succeeds David Johnston, Minister for Children, Families & Wellbeing. Let’s reflect on what we have achieved in terms of clarity on how we can expect the new government to strengthen child protection.
Pledges Include
To keep children “safe, happy and rooted in their communities and schools by strengthening multi-agency child protection and safeguarding arrangements”, and “to ensure that all children can thrive in safe, loving homes”.
We still lack the detail on its children’s social care plans in its manifesto and to what extent it will retain of its predecessor’s Stable Homes, Built on Love agenda. Family support & kinship reforms to reduce the need for statutory interventions currently remain unclear.
2. Registers of children not in school
The bill would place a duty on councils to have and maintain registers of children not in school. A Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel analysis of reviews of serious cases involving home-educated children, published in May, found there were “potential risks of harm for some children when they are not visible to public agencies and cannot access the potential benefits of school as a protective factor”. We know there is a need for afeguarding agencies to have better knowledge of them & support them to reach their full potential through suitable education”.
I support the requests made by the Children at the Table campaign led by a Coalition of Childrens Charities. It makes a connection with our new leaders, clarifying their requests for exactly what they see as important priorities. You can read more about this in my article here.
We are yet to see whether the taskforce suggested in the Kings Speech will achieve the huge strides needed to address the cost of living & poverty. These themes were highlighted by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review panel in its newsletter of April 2024.
Read my article by clicking here.
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Speak soon
Donna
Donna Ohdedar, CEO of Review Consulting
Donna has 16 years public sector experience, including her last role as Head of Law for a leading metropolitan authority. Now a safeguarding adviser & trainer, Donna is involved in serious case reviews in both children’s and adults’ safeguarding, domestic homicide, and is a SILP Reviewer and Mentor. Donna offers ‘SILP School’ her university accredited training course, CPD for reviewers & a free online network for leaders in review practice. Click here to join. Click here to hear the latest episode of the Safeguarding & Domestic Abuse Sector podcast.