A system fuelled by love

Rather unusually for me I have been doing some reading this week (of things other than emails). It started with Amazon (my new shopping BF) delivering me a copy of Polly Curtis’s “Behind Closed Doors”. Closely followed by the Ofsted Scoping Study on Early Help published earlier in the month (a nod to Dez Holmes and RiP there).

The Behind Closed Doors preface ends with the statement “I explore an alternative: a system built on a strong supportive society and fuelled not by process and defence but by love” - a sentiment I think many of us wholeheartedly support, especially after the last two years. But equally it is important to know what we are struggling to do in the current climate, something which the Early Help Scoping Study brings into sharp relief. It demonstrates how early help has become entwined with the provision of services to protect children from harm at the statutory end, rather than being a part of a broader public health approach shared with all multi agency partners and local communities.

Locally, freed from the process driven approach of having to make bids and compete against each other, which appears to be flavour of the month currently, we have used the Holiday Activity and Food programme (HAF) to try to develop a very different way of working and thinking. Very much focussed on creating that stronger society notion (and dare I say it love and kindness) between our communities and our children and young people.

I think this has enabled us to strengthen capacity and capability across our communities to better meet the needs of our diverse population allowing children and families to build relationships locally. We are confident that many of the several thousand children engaged with the programme will remain connected to local support. Making a significant contribution to improving the lived experiences of children in Walsall and delivering much more in terms of the relationships being built within our communities.

This was summed up for me in a quote from one of our children and young people: “I feel safe in the area where I live because I know the people and they know me and my family”

Maybe this simple fact is what our system needs to be all about?

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