NAHT welcomes the Laming Report but deplores the fact that a further review has been deemed necessary, after some seven years of reform that were intended to bring coherence at ground level between agencies responsible for child protection and well-being. It is clear that every Child does not yet Matter enough.
The implementation of reform is reliant on a workforce that has the capacity to respond to change. Public services are so hampered by bureaucratic overload that they are unable to respond quickly to crisis in some areas. This has to change.
NAHT applauds colleagues working in Social Services for the vital job they are trying to do in challenging circumstances, and recognises that they are grossly overstretched.
We also recognise that there are shining examples of good practice. These are based on early intervention where indications are picked up that families and their children are in distress.
NAHT recognises that the vast majority of children in the UK live happily in the midst of loving families, however there is a significant minority of children who live in dysfunctional environments where the only stability in their lives is school.
There is a yet smaller minority of parents who are not fit to be parents at all as we saw in the case of Baby P. It is vital that where schools identify distressed children that they are immediately able to access appropriate and proportional support for struggling parents.
Above all we must move away from the culture of blame and shame that undermines morale and simply puts further barriers in place that obstruct change.
Mick Brookes, General Secretary NAHT comments as follows:
"Government should immediately act to lift the burden of bureaucracy on our public services, much of it imposed as a result of incessant reform. Every school should have swift and easy access to support for children in the community The traditional barriers between the school workforce and the social workforce should be swept aside in order to properly protect this nation's children when they are at risk."'
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