Conclusion: the politics of children’s services reform

2020 ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Carl Purcell
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Group Relations ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Local Service ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Reform Needs

In this concluding chapter it is argued that the reform of children’s services over the past two decades has been a more politically driven process than is commonly recognised. Reflecting on the evidence presented in the book four key features of children’s services are identified. Firstly, the extent to which reforms have been influenced by apparent local service failings has been greatly exaggerated by ministers. Secondly, children’s services reform needs to be understood within the context of the broader economic and social policy priorities of party leaders and senior ministers. Thirdly, the ubiquity of structural reform to local children’s services reflects the activism of ministers and their need to demonstrate impact. Finally, the politicisation of policy-making in this area has been reflected in continual shifts in government-interest group relations, including the declining access and influence of children’s sector NGOs over recent years.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Carl Purcell
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Public Policy Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Making Process ◽  
Children’S Services

This chapter outlines the rationale for the book and the contribution it seeks to make to research on children’s services reform and the public policy-making process. The emphasis placed on the influence of child abuse inquiries in previous research in this area is questioned. A brief overview of the chapters that follow is also provided.

Delivering change for children

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-88
Author(s):  
Carl Purcell
Keyword(s):  
Early Intervention ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Young People ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Youth Services ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
School Autonomy ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Children’S Services

This chapter discusses the implementation of Labour’s ‘Change for Children’ programme following the passage of the Children Act 2004 during Blair’s final years as Prime Minister. Under the new structural arrangements every English local authority was required to merge education and children’s social care services to create a single children’s services department under the leadership of a Director of Children’s Services. However, it is argued that tensions between No 10 and the Treasury over social policy and public service reform in this period served to constrain the implementation of the new arrangements. Firstly, Blair’s prioritisation of greater school autonomy pulled against the focus on the integration of children’s services and accountability to children’s services and children’s trusts. Secondly, Blair’s perspective on youth services and the prioritisation of policies to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, ran counter to the principle of early intervention and the provision of positive activities for young people under the ECM framework.

scholarly journals Outputs Reviewed: Neo-Liberalism

2015 ◽  
pp. 22
Author(s):  
North East Third Sector Research Group
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Family Support ◽  
Community Organizations ◽  
Voluntary Organizations ◽  
Welfare To Work ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Big Society ◽  
South Korean ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
Society Project

<p>Churchill, H. (2013). Retrenchment and restructuring: family support and children's services reform under the coalition. <em>Journal of Children's Services</em>, 8()3, 209-222</p><p>Jackson Rodger, J. (2013). “New capitalism”, colonisation and the neo-philanthropic turn in social policy: Applying Luhmann's systems theory to the Big Society project. <em>International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy</em>, 33(11/12), 725-741.</p><p>Kim, S. (2013). Voluntary Organizations as New Street-level Bureaucrats: Frontline Struggles of Community Organizations against Bureaucratization in a South Korean Welfare-to-Work Partnership. <em>Social Policy &amp; Administration</em>, 47(5), 565-585.</p>

In whose best interests?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Val Gillies ◽  
Rosalind Edwards ◽  
Nicola Horsley
Keyword(s):  
Early Intervention ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Education Services ◽  
Stakeholder Groups ◽  
Economic Rationale ◽  
Children’S Services

This chapter analyses the intricate network of interests and their agendas that characterise social policy provision generally, focusing down on social investment in children's services and the early intervention field. In particular, the chapter looks at three key stakeholder groups with interests in early intervention: business, politicians and professionals, and their interlinked alliances and partnerships. It examines how corporate money, power, and influence have pervaded various children's services, from child protection work to family and early intervention initiatives to education services. This occurs through ‘philanthrocapitalism’ — an amalgam of an economic rationale of early intervention coupled with moral notions of social philanthropy.

Spaces of care beyond the home: austerity and children’s services

2019 ◽  
pp. 87-106
Author(s):  
Eleanor Jupp
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Children's Services ◽  
Children Under Five ◽  
Under Five ◽  
Care And Support ◽  
Children’S Services ◽  
Care At Home ◽  
Children’S Centres ◽  
At Home

This chapter examines a shift within UK social policy away from neighbourhood infrastructures of policy and services under conditions of austerity. The loss of these services are creating increasingly fragmented and unequal contexts in relation to local landscapes of care and support for families. The chapter draws on research about Sure Start Children’s Centres, which can be seen as crucial ‘in-between’ or ‘home-like’ spaces, linking care at home with wider networks and resources. The paper focuses on services, closures, activism and governance relating to the centres which were aimed at children under five and their families.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document