The Rotherham child abuse inquiry is the latest in a long line of investigations which have undermined public confidence in child protection services. Government ministers past and present waste no time in apportioning blame and calling for heads (of anyone but themselves) to roll. Local failings by social services and police are undeniable but the blame also lies with central Government – those politicians responsible for cutting funding of council and NHS services including essential outreach support for young people in particular; those politicians who have slashed social security benefits, those politicians driving a public service reform agenda based on competition rather than cooperation, those politicians responsible for inadequate regulation and standards.
Professor Ray Jones wrote presciently on this subject last year: ‘What about the remit and responsibilities of government itself, and of politicians in Parliament, for child protection? How well have they been doing? Many might think that their contribution has not always been helpful..... Allocating blame and shame may not be the most constructive activity, and maybe social workers are not the most appropriate target anyway’
http://www.theguardian.com/social-care-network/2013/jul/18/how-is-government-doing-on-child-protection
Mo Baines, a UNISON activist in the North West, writes on the Public Service Europe website, about the implications of the emerging Savile scandal and other abuse cases for the effective governance of public service providers where the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children is concerned: 'within the public sector, there has to be a recognition that while we have statutory responsibilities for the care of vulnerable people - we also have responsibilities to support a culture of openness where staff, service users and relatives of those being cared for feel able to raise concerns; to be believed and supported, and to have effective lines to report their concerns. A culture of openness costs little but could bring great riches when it comes to safeguarding our most vulnerable members of society'
http://www.publicserviceeurope.com/article/2640/public-sector-must-adopt-openness-to-avoid-another-jimmy-savile
Whilst Cameron hypes up public service reform to satiate the Tory right, Save the Children calculated at the end of 2008 that 1.7 million or 13% of the UK's children were living in severe poverty, and that not only have efforts to reduce child poverty stalled, they have gone into reverse:
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/docs/sevchildpovuk.pdf
If you can judge a society by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens, you have to wonder what it says about ours that nearly four million of our children – one in three - are living in poverty.
A survey of over 3.500 children's centre managers has highlighted that 250 are at risk of closure during the next year because of budget cuts.
