Children’s services leaders in England call for national ‘plan for childhood’. In response, the Children’s Charities Coalition – Action for Children, Barnardo’s, NCB, NSPCC, The Children’s Society – said:  

 “The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) are absolutely right to draw attention to the desperate need for our political leaders to focus their attention and efforts on significantly improving the safety and wellbeing of the nation’s children. The calls by the ADCS strongly resonate with our Children at the Table campaign for the next UK Government to put babies, children and young people at the heart of their policy making.

 “In recent years there has been an alarming rise in children living in poverty, struggling with their mental health and having limited access to early years development. At the same time families in need are being deprived of the early intervention services which can ultimately prevent them from reaching crisis point and stop children from going into care. Many of these problems got significantly worse during and after the pandemic.

 “To counter this rising tide of hurt and harm we want to see all political parties and leaders committing to an ambitious cross-government strategy and outcomes framework that will drive improvements for babies, children and young people across all areas of their lives in a properly joined up way. Underpinning this must be a commitment to end child poverty once and for all – a harm which damages and destroys many children’s lives.”

Find out more about what the Children at the Table campaign is calling for.