Introduction and welcome Professor Caroline Gipps Vice Chancellor University of Wolverhampton

“The vast majority of parents want to keep their children safe and they need to know that Professionals, Services, Government and their communities are working to help them” Rt Hon Ed Balls MP February 2008

We hope this conference will provide you with an excellent opportunity to meet colleagues from across the children’s workforce in the West Midlands Region. The key focus of this, our first regional conference to support ECM, is child safety and protection. We have colleagues here from a wide range of public sector, voluntary and private services. We want to share experiences, knowledge and ideas with you and build upon your professional networks and think about further ways to contribute to the integrated services agenda. Together, we can make a difference to the future for all children, young people and their families.

Multi agency service provision Staying Safe and Prevention Research leading to action Staying safe action plan Best and next practice Government policy – drivers for change Working and developing together What does the research say? Multi agency service provision

Our key themes for the conference today are: Policy in action: the regional children’s workforce – do we have the knowledge and skills to adopt and implement an integrated/ multi agency approach to the Staying Safe action plan and wider still, the Children’s 10 year plan? Action based research: are practitioners empowered and able to take responsibility and carry out action and other forms of research and impact studies to support child safety? Best and next practice: how can we share more effectively what is working well?

I am delighted to introduce as our chair for the day Professor Carl Chinn MBE who will take you through the proceedings for the rest of the conference