National Picture:
Every Child Matters: Change for Children is a national shared programme of change to improve outcomes for all children and young people.
The main aim of Every Child Matters is to ensure that every child or young person, whatever their background or their circumstances have the support they need to:
- Be healthy: enjoying good physical and emotional health and living a healthy lifestyle.
- Stay safe: being protected from harm and abuse.
- Enjoying and achieving: getting the most out of life and developing skills for adulthood.
- Making a positive contribution: being involved with the community and society and not engaging in anti-social or offending behaviour.
- Achieving economic wellbeing: not being prevented by economic disadvantage from achieving their full potential in life.
Key Every Child Matters documents are:
- Every Child Matters - the Green Paper -published in September 2003
- Every Child Matters: Next Steps - published in March 2004
- Every Child Matters: Change for Children - published in December 2004
Additional documents on Every Child Matters can be found on the Every Child Matters website: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk
Children Act 2004
The Children Act 2004 provides the legal underpinning for Every Child Matters Change for Children. A series of statutory and non – statutory guidance documents have been published to support this and they are available on www.everychildmatters.gov.uk
Children’s trusts are an important part of the Government’s policy for improving children’s services. The policy, developed in Every Child Matters, the Children Act 2004 and the National Services Framework for Children, Young People and Maternity Services, aims to improve outcomes for all children by reconfiguring and integrating services around their needs. Children’s trusts are an organisational form which brings together social services, health, education, and other services working with children and young people. The Bracknell Forest Children’s Trust was established on 1 April 2008.
The Children’s Plan. Building Brighter Futures
The Children’s Plan: Building Brighter Futures is the government’s new strategy for children, published in December 2007. It It sets out the ambitions of government for improving the lives and outcomes for children and young people. It is a ten year plan which identifies key objectives and plans to make England the best place in the world for children to grow up.
The plan builds on the work of Every Child Matters keeping outcomes for children and young people at the centre, and focusing on the role of parent, carers and wider communities in achieving the vision. The role of Children’s Trusts are central to the delivery of the Children’s Plan, as is the strength and quality of the children’s workforce.
A number of key documents and resources have been published by the DCSF to support the implementation of the plan:
- Children’s Plan
- Children’s Plan Toolkit
- ECM Outcomes Framework
- Narrowing the Gap Benchmarking Toolkit
- Workforce Development Action Plan
- Leading and Managing Children’s Services in England
- Workforce Expert Group
- Play Strategy and Summary
- Leaflet on MyPlace
- Speeches
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