The green paper on children's services represents more than a chance for the Government to reassure the public that child protection is top of the agenda in England.
Central to the proposals are reforms to practice and culture that are unprecedented in the sector. Assuming the proposals go through the consultation phase relatively unchanged, professionals in the youth work sector will have to face major changes.
These include a statutory need for a director of children's services at every local authority. They will also be expected to appoint a lead council member for children. A sector skills council for children and young people's services is to be introduced.
It's important to realise that one size won't fit all, practitioners cautioned at a conference last week. Hosted by influential left-of-centre think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the event brought together professionals to discuss the future of children's services.
The keynote speech was given by children and young people's minister Margaret Hodge, in which she called for a culture of partnership between all stakeholders, from the Government through to children and young people.
This will be underpinned by the children's trusts, which each local authority will be expected to implement in the long term. The trusts will integrate services under the director of children's services remit.
The feeling at the event was that the green paper is the most significant document in the sector since The Children Act (1989). It may even be more important, resulting in more significant changes to the way everyone in the field works. Hodge certainly feels so. "We are in a key stage in the development of centre-left thinking," she says. "The children's agenda is poised to enjoy a priority it hasn't in the past. We are at a turning point in children's services."
Conceding it is a "massive cultural change", she challenges practitioners to "pull down professional boundaries and hierarchies" and "ensure safeguarding of children is a seamless thread".
This notion of breaking down professional boundaries runs through the green paper and will surely be one that is returned to in the coming months.
David Behan, president of the Association of Directors of Social Services, warns that the changes will take time to implement: "We're not going to do all this overnight. We need to see this as a long-term programme."
Nonetheless, Lisa Harker, chair of the Daycare Trust, formerly of IPPR and the person who chaired the conference, sees the changes as "evolution and revolution" with the Government being cautious.
What's the right balance between national policy and local application of that policy? The question was posed by Caroline Abrahams, director of public policy at children and young people's charity NCH. "Central government should be tight on outcomes but loose on process," she says.
"It's probably impossible to draw up mechanisms centrally that will work everywhere." The importance of local authorities being able to tailor workforce reforms to their own needs was echoed throughout the conference.
Abrahams adds: "While I strongly support the direction of the green paper, I'm not entirely convinced by the structural changes proposed. Creation of the director of children's services, a special councillor for children, and so on, have not been thought through."
With the integration necessary for children's trusts, it will be increasingly important for the youth service to keep an eye on the health sector as well. Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, warns that a sense of local ownership has been a "dream" for the health service, but has never yet been a reality. She also points out that the NHS has seen 19 structural changes in the past 20 years.
Structural change to the workforce isn't the only thing to be addressed.
At the heart of workforce issues is retention and recruitment of staff.
Partly to blame, Hodge says, is an influx of professionals from social work into careers such as being Connexions personal advisers. Good news for youth work - but bad news for social work, and this could "unbalance" children's services. A "high-profile recruitment campaign" - details yet to be finalised - will encourage people to join the "children's workforce".
The green paper also alludes to this. Under the "Workforce reform" heading, it states: "Our goal must be to make working with children an attractive, high-status career, and to develop a more skilled and flexible workforce."
Hodge adds: "There is a sense of urgency but we have to make sure that what we do really works. The green paper is the start of a journey."
View the consultation document at www.dfes.gov.uk/everychildmatters
WORKFORCE REFORM
The following are proposals on workforce reform set out in the green paper:
- Workforce reform strategy will review rewards, incentives and relativities across children's practice
- Recruitment campaign
- Workload survey
- More flexible common occupational standards across children's practice
- Leadership development programme.
