EDITORIAL: The Green Paper is about more than children

Many of those failures involved not just people not doing their jobs properly but the very structure of services that are meant to protect children. Because of their fundamental nature, the only adequate response is an overhaul of those services. This the green paper outlines, and it affects not just areas such as health and social work but also areas such as education, youth work, Connexions and law enforcement. In short, nobody will be able to say the safeguarding of children is not part of their job.

The green paper contains few explicit references to youth work, and the ones that are there repeat the approach outlined by the Government in its Resourcing Excellent Youth Services document. But it would be a mistake to think that it will not have much bearing on those who work primarily with adolescents rather than children. The green paper is not just about child protection. It outlines a structure of accountability, and ways in which different agencies will have to work together. It will have an influence on everything from professional competencies to the relationship between areas such as youth work and Connexions, and professionals in areas such as health and social services. Many of the green paper's implications for work with young people are implicit in what it says about issues such as common assessment standards and data sharing. Youth, Connexions and youth justice workers are already involved in pilots in children's trusts, assessment standards and information sharing.