It’s Valentine’s Day today and love has been a key theme of some of the national discourse around children’s services reform over the last couple of years.  Stable Homes Built on Love was launched in February 2023 as the government’s response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the basis of that is now filtering through into legislation in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.  So, were The Beatles right in saying ‘All you need is love’?

Strong relationships and a safe loving environment are clearly critical for our children and young people to flourish and thrive as they progress through childhood.  However, I must confess that I’m probably more of a pragmatist than a romantic at heart (as hard as that may be to believe!), so what about good quality housing, food, clothing and the many other basics of daily life that so many of us take for granted? 

Living and working in the North East, our services are trying to mitigate truly shocking levels of child poverty that drive huge inequalities in our society.  It can often seem that we are trying to push back the tide of these broader societal issues whilst finding solutions that, at best, are mitigating the impact of poverty but often are ineffective sticking plasters.  The North East Child Poverty Commission published a report last year called No Time to Wait which showed an increase in children in our region living in relative poverty after housing costs rose from 26% to 35% between 2015 and 2022.  With over two-thirds of those children living in working households, it’s also clear that employment alone is not the solution.  So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the pressures on families created by poverty have led to substantial increases across the region in all forms of statutory intervention through children’s social care and a widening of educational inequalities.

Whilst the picture we see in the north east is particularly challenging, the impact of child poverty on the families we work with is a critical issue right across the country.  Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported in 2023 that one million children experienced destitution in the UK.  One million children living in cold, damp and dirty conditions whilst also being hungry.  It’s unbelievable but also the lived reality for many families in our communities across the country.  So why did it have so little focus in Josh MacAlister’s Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and the subsequent government response Stable Homes Built on Love?  This isn’t someone else’s problem, it’s integral to both the society we want to live in and the future direction of children’s services.  We can’t reform without tackling the underlying issues that bring families to our door and drive high levels of inequality.

A joined up national plan for children was a key ask of the ADCS Childhood Matters policy paper published this time last year.  That paper sets out how we could start to address the broad underlying issues that impact on childhood to help make genuine sustainable change.  Whilst ‘mission led government’ and the establishment of a national Child Poverty Taskforce may give an opening for change, it is incumbent on all of us to lead the charge to tackle the scourge of child poverty.  So yes, love is hugely important, but I’m not convinced it’s all we need.