Children's charities have criticised the lack of priority given to child protection in the first National Policing Plan, warning that it will lead to many cases of child abuse going undetected.

The plan, which was released last week and sets out the priorities for local forces over the next three years, mentions child protection just once in a single paragraph under the heading of "other policing responsibilities" with terrorism and roads policing.

It does not feature as a priority area or among the 31 key measures to be achieved by the police.

Barnardo's principal policy and practice manager Tink Palmer said that its lack of emphasis would see forces allocating resources to tackling abuse after other crimes had been dealt with.

"There's a growing awareness among professionals in the field of child protection that, in order to combat the issues, there has to be a strategic approach," said Palmer.

She also cast doubt on how effective the police would be in tackling the legal changes relating to abuse of children outlined in the sexual offences command paper released last week, without the necessary resources.

NSPCC policy adviser Christine Atkinson said the charity would like to see child protection made a priority for all police forces. She added that it should not be "left to individual police forces to set their own priorities as this could lead to inconsistent practices across the country".

The plan lists four priority areas: antisocial behaviour and disorder; reducing street, drug-related, violent and gun crime; combating serious and organised crime; and increasing the numbers of offences brought to justice. These have also attracted criticism from within the police.

Terence Grange, lead officer on child protection for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said the plan identified children as "problems" early on with its emphasis on antisocial behaviour.

"Child protection is tagged on the end," Grange said. "It hasn't got the proper emphasis and will be seen as something that needs to be dealt with after about 20 things."

A spokesperson for the Home Office said that it regarded child protection as among its highest priorities and that "it would be remiss to suggest that we are not doing anything about it".

She added that £500,000 had been made available to help the 43 police forces in England and Wales put together child protection strategies.