Parents must be consulted before services planned

Parents should be involved in service planning and setting local
priorities to improve the welfare and well being of children,
according to a new report.

Local services would be more effective if agencies worked in
partnership and collaborated with families, says the joint report
from the Association of Directors of Social Services, the National
Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations (NCVCCO) and the UK
Initiative for Children.

The joint report argues that successes of services should be
judged by progress or outcomes rather than whether
‘input’ and ‘output’ targets are being
met.

Reforms should include planning of services for children and
families at a national and local level to achieve measurable
improvements for young people. The government should ensure service
planners in each neighbourhood have access to information relating
to the well being of children and families, it says.

Rob Hutchinson, director of Portsmouth council’s social services
and chairperson of the ADSS children and families committee, said:
“The end result, for a relatively small investment in standard
information systems and community involvement, would be mainstream
services that were more acceptable to families and more effective
contributors to the wellbeing of children and young people.”

The report, which was launched at the NCVCCO annual conference
in London, is being published to coincide with a strategy for
children and young people from the government’s children and young
people’s unit. This will advocate stronger partnerships
between local service providers and a more ‘joined-up’
approach to service planning.