First, it has undermined confidence in the Government's commitment to preventive work. The green paper emphasised the need for services that stop children moving into crisis when they face unexpected challenges. Preventive services have always been most vulnerable to emergency cuts in budgets. So was this stress upon prevention just a sham?
Second, it has threatened the already limited focus on children aged five to 13 - the crucial "middle years" where there is still scope to divert children from a path of risk. When Gordon Brown set out the case for the Children's Fund, he said it would start to plug the gap. Can we be sure that the plug will remain?
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