In most local authority areas children's plans and children's trusts are being established with no real engagement of the voluntary sector and expertise and perspective is being lost. In three-quarters of the areas in which my organisation works we have had no involvement in either to date.
Jigsaw puzzle
Both central and local government officials say that the voluntary sector is such a huge and fragmented beast that they don't know who to approach.
To which I would answer: "If we can be contracted to provide services for you then we can just as easily be involved in the policy and planning processes." One local authority told us it needed to organise itself first and then it would get round to including the voluntary sector, which it saw as an "important partner".That's Cinderella for you. She has to invite herself to the ball.
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