The changing role of children’s charities delivering early intervention services

2020 ◽  
pp. 145-176
Author(s):  
Alison Body

Following a decade of radical change in policy and funding in children’s early intervention services and with the role of the third sector under increased scrutiny, this timely book assesses the shifting interplay between state provision and voluntary organisations delivering interventions for children, young people and their families. Using one-hundred voices from charities and their partners on the frontline, this book provides vivid accounts of the lived experiences of charitable groups, offering key insights into the impact of recent social policy decisions on their work. Telling the story of how the landscape of children’s early intervention services has changed over the last decade, it provides crucial lessons for future policy whilst demonstrating the immeasurable value of voluntary organisations working in this challenging terrain.


Author(s):  
Alison Body

In chapter 6 we explore the impact of commissioning and policy changes on early intervention and preventative services for children delivered by the charitable sector. The definition of early intervention and preventative services is highly contested and politicised within policy and commissioning processes. This reflects an ongoing debate regarding the shifting paradigm of prevention. As the commissioning narrative has developed, there has been an overall disengagement between the voluntary sector providers and State. As the charitable sector is increasingly exposed to intensifying marketization, polarisation of relationships increases. We identify here three ‘types’ of organisational responses to this ever-changing environments; conformers – those charities who align themselves close to the State and regularly reinterpret their mission to fit State logic; the outliers – those charities which reject State approaches to early intervention and seek to deliver services completely independently of the State; and the intermediaries – those charities which walk between conformity and dissent, working with the State when necessary or too their advantage, and walking away when not. We discuss how these types fundamentally alter children’s charities perspectives and experiences of commissioning and the impact this has on their wider work.


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