A message of thanks

What has struck me in the midst of this crisis is the strength of our sector. Suddenly, directors of children’s services and our colleagues in adult services are the ‘go to’ people for system leadership and direction. So, my message is to celebrate our resilience and say a huge thank you to everyone who is continuing to provide effective leadership during our collective endeavour to protect the most vulnerable and support our staff during the most challenging of times.

Colleagues, we are remarkable and we lead remarkable people. Never has our ability to stand together as a sector been more powerful and compelling to those in power. During these unprecedented times, our understanding of risk management and major incident coordination has been invaluable as we seamlessly shift into arms length coordination, communicating with partners and children and families about what we are doing and how services will adapt to ensure ongoing delivery and support to the most vulnerable. We bring a wealth of knowledge and experience, so it has been encouraging to see ADCS engage with government to push the needs of vulnerable children and families high up its agenda.