Children need change

The paper aimed to articulate the many challenges children and their families were facing at the time and the wider contextual impact on them. We are currently in the process of updating the paper, and, since it was first published, much has changed as we have lived through a turbulent time.

Dozens of inquiries, learning reviews and reports have been published, an array of new duties and legislation have come into force, and we have experienced a global pandemic, however, there has been no progress on vital issues such as poverty, children’s mental health and local government funding. In fact, the opposite is true. We have gone backwards and now face a poverty crisis, a children’s mental health crisis and a funding crisis in public services. A country that works for all children must invest long-term in children, their families and the public services that support them to ensure the conditions are in place to help them thrive. That is even more important now than it was in 2017.