Since the recent ADCS FCYP Policy Network meeting, I’ve been thinking a lot about coherence. Every child has just one childhood, yet the system around them can feel like a patchwork of programmes, priorities and reforms, each coming from a place of genuine commitment but not always joining up in the way families experience their lives. Local government works hard to make sense of this. Every day, councils stitch together early help, schools, social care, youth, housing, health and community support so that children experience something steady and connected.