At the start of a new year, I have been reflecting on the year that was 2024; a real year of change that brought a general election, a new government, extra funding and new legislation for children and children’s services.  There’s a lot on the reform to-do list, but we lack a single space where we can talk about serious violence in the broadest sense, its impact on children and what we as adults need to do.

This issue sits on the cusp of multiple systems and responses, there’s a role for safeguarding and education, for the policing and criminal justice systems as well as the health and welfare systems, to name just a few. 

It’s important to recognise that the vast majority of children and young people will not carry a knife, be criminally exploited or stopped and searched by the police, but sadly the majority of school-age girls will already be well rehearsed in adjusting their behaviour and social interactions in a bid to keep themselves safe.  Violence in our society, and in too many children’s lives and homes, is something we need to face, including the known unknowns and what goes on behind closed doors or is seen on screens.

While the number of children in custody has fallen dramatically in recent years, those who do receive a custodial sentence are much more likely to have committed a very serious and violent crime.  Violence against women and girls has been described as an “epidemic” by national policing leads and last summer we saw rioting and racial hatred on our streets.  Similarly, surveys show that children are seeing or being sent violent, hateful, exploitative content online.  This is not well understood by adults, and action is needed to address actual levels of violence, as well as the fear of it, which is actively harming children’s health and wellbeing.

The findings from the recent joint area inspection on serious youth violence underlined the pervasive fear, and the wide-ranging impact this is having on children’s lives.  This disproportionately falls on global majority communities, children with additional needs and those living in poverty. 

Similarly, the Youth Endowment Fund’s latest report on violence and vulnerability found that while one in five teenagers experienced violence first-hand as victims, two thirds reported being worried about becoming victims themselves (with concerns being highest among children from Black and mixed ethnic backgrounds). This widespread fear is reshaping how children live their lives. Over half reported changing their behaviours; with a third avoiding certain places or social events.

Back in 2019 ADCS published a discussion paper on this topic calling for a public health style approach here.  No single government department, no single safeguarding partner can solve this alone.  The new government’s Plan for Change and its Opportunity and Safer Streets Missions, the vision for a more inclusive education system, a new child poverty strategy, action on VAWG, the review of the NHS, a review of policing and the development of the Young Futures programme are part of the solution, we just need to make sure that the right connections are being made and that children’s lives change for the better as a result of these efforts.