Protecting at risk children Eileen Munro November 1 st 2006

At risk of what? Of significant harm from abuse or neglect Of failing to fulfil potential Of social exclusion –Of delinquency and anti-social behaviour –Of educational underachievement –Of teenage parenthood

Every Child Matters Outcomes Framework Be healthy Stay safe Enjoy and achieve Make a positive contribution Achieve economic well-being

Targets and indicators % children consuming 5 portions of fruit and veg. a day. Stock and take-up of childcare for all families. Cleaner, safer and greener public spaces.

Responsibility Health, education, social care, and youth justice will be jointly inspected and audited on childrens attainments on the targets and indicators.

Information sharing is the key to successful collaborative working and early intervention to help children and young people at risk of poor outcomes (DfES, 2006)

Predicting problems Which low level problems are early signs of serious problems ahead ? Most low level problems get resolved. Our ability to predict which ones will not is very limited.

Confidentiality The government will remove the legislative barriers to better information sharing Every Child Matters, 2003, p.13.