Every Child Matters

This is a very serious subject for me and yet as i write, that annoying little ditty from" The Life of Brian".....every sperm is sacred is playing endlessly in my mind.

Every child matters, perhaps should be an anthem, that everyone who works, lives and comes into contact with children should know by heart and is at the heart of their practice.

I work in the child care services and i have children of my own.



We all use the health service and access opticians, dentists, Gp's.The education service is an almost daily part of our lives and as children grow and become increasingly independent, they come into contact with youth and voluntary services.

The judicial system, law enforcement and population surveillance is a constant in our lives and that of our children.



Up until quite recently these agencies worked largely independently of each other and interacted in an undefined ad hoc sort of way which was mostly driven and governed by child protection needs and individual agency agendas.



Identification of need has been in the past the main tool in addressing problematic child and adolescence.



This" identification of need" seems to start almost pre-birth and follow the child through to adult hood.

"Meeting of need " however, has proved to be more problematic and often dependent on factors around available resources. It is still often the case that those who shout loudest or are more articulate, win over those who sometimes have a greater need.



Every child matters as a philosophy, attempts to equalise irrespective of financial resources, the post code lottery of meeting needs.


Every child matters systems as opposed to a select number or type, ability or disability, wealthy or poor targeted systems is in my view, starting to produce some good outcomes for children, which can be built upon in future generations.




In the past few years, foe example, i have seen a growing engagement from the secondary education service in Britain with parents. It has always been there, but now they strive to reach parents and children who have before, been left on the edge, to struggle or not on their own. Welfare and pastoral needs have been identified and specialist trained workers have been alloted to address them. They work closely with youth workers and health, and through the school nurse directly to the GP, paediatric and special needs providers.

Education has become more active rather than passive. Services which have historically, been there for those who looked are now actively looking for those who need their services.

Looked after children are still micromanaged and services imposed that cause them to be treated in a different way to those children looked after by their parents. Personally, i believe this to be to the detrement of those children who often want to be treated the same as other children and offered the same opportunities.

However, in one area, looked after children have benefited greatly and that is by having an alloted CAMHS (child and mental health) nurse. This is often someone they see infrequently, but who, nevertheless, gets to know their personal health needs and individual issues.
They can offer children and carers access to programmes and services that they may not normally be aware of and point them in the direction of targeted help.
I would like to see all children offered an annual health check up on the same lines that the CAMHS service offer to looked after children.

If systems of working and living with children had at their centre, a strong philosophy and actioned that EVERY child mattered then perhaps we could have integrated services equal and open, less open to abuse and more able to spot, and act on neglectful and damaging behaviours...