A long-term vision
Anne Longfield, chief executive of Children
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
As Kids' Clubs Network changes its name to 4Children it is reasserting its belief in the importance of support for children and families in the community and calling for a far more coherent vision for children, which puts children at the core. At the heart of the vision is support for children and their families which will be near to home, when they need it and throughout their childhood. The support would be delivered through 10,000 Children's Centres for birth to 16s which would be based around schools. The Centres would bring key services together into an integrated service - backed up by an integrated children's workforce and integrated children's funding programme.
At the heart of the vision is support for children and their families which will be near to home, when they need it and throughout their childhood. The support would be delivered through 10,000 Children's Centres for birth to 16s which would be based around schools. The Centres would bring key services together into an integrated service - backed up by an integrated children's workforce and integrated children's funding programme.
This would cost about 10bn a year over about ten years. A huge amount of money by anyone's reckoning. However, governments do spend large amounts on crucial services - around 61bn on education and 49bn on health in the year 2003/04. Governments also spend a huge amount on 'mending' when things go wrong and it is here that the long-term vision becomes crucial. 60bn each year is spent on crime reduction, huge amounts also on care services and much more.
These amounts of money are spent because they have to be, but if we invested more on prevention then their cost would reduce. In a wealthy country, these are the debates we need to have, and these are the decisions we need to take. Valuing children means that we have to provide the opportunities and support needed to enable them to reach their potential.
There is a cost to making it happen which we as a country need to sign up to. There is also a major cost to not making it happen - one which limits the potential of all children, their parents and ultimately all of us.
