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England's first children's commissioner, is a man on a mission: to save childhood. Just as Al Aynsley-Green's heroes - social reformers Dr Barnardo's, Joseph Rowntree and Charles Dickens - fought to set children free from slave labour in Victorian times, the newly appointed commissioner wants to rescue today's children from the turmoil of 21st century life.

Aynsley-Green, a paediatric clinician, will end a 12-year stint at Great Ormond Street Hospital to take up his new role. He has identified a possible three-pronged plan of attack to achieve his goal.

His first strand is to raise debate around the standing of children, childhood and parenting in modern day society. His second thread is to tackle the real participation of children and young people, and to encourage them to become advocates and to be seen to have important views. And his third challenge will be to raise with those responsible for delivering children's services some more specific - but yet-to-be-determined - key issues, possibly with the assistance of research and inquiry.

"My challenge is we have huge turmoil in our current society for different reasons," Aynsley-Green says. "It is multicultural, egocentric, consumerist. It has a collapsing birth rate, changing family dynamics, an explosion of children not benefiting from society - disadvantaged children, children in poverty, looked-after children, young offenders.

"And my question is 'who cares?' And who is asking the questions about what actually is shaping the lives of children and young people today?"

Although Aynsley-Green refuses to be drawn at this stage on the specific aims he will be setting himself as children's commissioner, he is clear about the changes he would like to see by the end of the decade. These include a fair resource allocation for children and young people, the mainstreaming of children in what are often adult-centric organisations, children and young people actively participating in making decisions, and a higher value placed on children and young people in society.

In relation to the latter at least, Aynsley-Green is aware that this will involve engaging with the media to redress the common demonisation of children and young people, particularly in the national press.

"I have kept very carefully a personal portfolio of newspaper clippings over the last four years," Aynsley-Green reveals. "And I can tell you that 70 per cent of those clippings are negative - negative stereotypes, lurid headlines about yobs committing crimes.

"Those are negative stereotypes which reinforce older people's views that it is only bad news when they see young people on street corners."

He will not say whether the introduction of antisocial behaviour orders and curfews have contributed to this climate of fear and public demonisation. Instead, he stresses his desire to see, by 2010, policies that reflect the needs of children and young people and a higher priority being given to children and young people by all political parties.

One way he is likely to ensure this happens is by "child-proofing" all legislation before it reaches the statute book. This would give him the opportunity to consider and highlight the implications of any new laws for children and young people in the hope of ironing out any potential problems early on rather than having to deal with the fallout of poor policies later.

It is fair to suggest that, had Aynsley-Green already had such a role when the Children Act was going through Parliament last year, discussions would almost certainly have taken place between himself and the government about the decision to leave the National Asylum Support Service and immigration services off the list of bodies covered by the duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. "I have been to an asylum seeker reception centre in Hackney and listened to the stories of some of the mothers and children, and seen how some of these children refuse to let go of their mothers' hands while I am talking with them," he recalls.


"There are issues about how we, as a humane society, should be regarding the most vulnerable who come to our shores.
"It is for politicians, for Parliament, to decide on the legislation. But I would certainly want to remind people that we are talking about human beings here."

And the idea of "child-proofing" policies does not stop with Parliament. It is a practice Aynsley-Green has been involved with in the Department of Health since he was appointed as national clinical director for children in July 2001 following the Royal Bristol Infirmary Inquiry into high child mortality rates for heart surgery.

"Because [inquiry chair Sir Ian] Kennedy commented that children were the Cinderella of the health service, I have been a full corporate member of the top team, every month meeting with senior [DoH] officials. And I have made it my business to stand up and say, when an important issue is being debated, what does this mean for children and young people who make up 25 per cent of the population?

"Now I want to see that replicated across the country on boards at all levels - local authorities, health service trusts, education establishments - somebody being charged with actually asking the question what does this mean for children and young people?"

A key aspect of the children's commissioner's work will obviously be about communicating with children and young people themselves. But, as a paediatric endocrinologist - a children's physician who specialises in hormones - Aynsley-Green is not at all daunted by this prospect.

"I am very well experienced in talking with, and sharing issues with, children and young people," he says. "For many years I have helped countless boys and girls in adolescence who are too short or too tall, those who are late in developing, those who are too soon in developing... So I think I do have some credibility in trying to understand their sensitivities, their embarrassments and to understand the pressures of what it is like to be an adolescent normally, let alone if you have one of these physical problems."

Although Aynsley-Green already has a "ready-made set of stakeholders" to test ideas out on at home - namely his four grandchildren - he is acutely aware of the importance of developing a brand and identity that children and young people will recognise and respond to. He is also aware of the importance of being seen by children and young people as someone who can be trusted.

"First of all, I have to be myself," he says, promising to stick with the philosophy of openness and transparency he had when developing the National Service Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services. "I can't pretend to be somebody I'm not. I can't pretend to be a with-it, 25-year-old disco-dancing freak on roller skates. That's not me. I am who I am."

Children and young people will have to wait until the first piece of contentious legislation to find out whether this is going to be enough.

• For a full transcript of the interview go to www.communitycare.co.uk