Every Child Matters - Continued

Like service users, voluntary groups often find themselves caught in the crossfire when other agencies are at loggerheads, and will therefore welcome better team-working if it goes beyond the rhetoric of partnership. Concerns are noted about the contract culture which denies voluntary groups input into planning and cramps the innovation which is part of their strength. The report also notes that Executive initiatives (eg on police checks) may also prove a disincentive to volunteering.

The Action Team noted that "although voluntary organisations provide many of the best children’s services in Scotland, a range of issues exists relating to their involvement in the development of these services. In particular, tendering exercises were absorbing staff and financial resources that could be better directed towards service provision". They recommend that, "to ensure that voluntary organisations are key partners in children’s service planning, the Scottish Executive should issue guidance to local authorities and others in relation to the most effective, best value methods for identifying long-term service partner relationships which are not in conflict with procurement regulations".

Many of the issues for the voluntary sector noted above will apply to the churches (which are not specifically mentioned in the report). In this as in many areas, the churches make a contribution to be proud of (as, for example in the Children's Forums which are part of the CofS build up to the "Year of the Child" - launched on 2 December by our new First Minister). But we will also be challenged by much of what was found by the action team and experienced by service users, in terms of letting children down.

An approach which puts the child at the centre, and views the child as a whole person to be nurtured in family and community and not disintegrated into official specialisms, seems to have good Biblical foundation, as does the recognition that effective work with many vulnerable children can only be done in the context of working with the family as a whole. Indeed, the radical notion that "a little child shall lead them" may be part of our contribution to a field scarred by the conflicting approaches of different professionals. If we are failing too many children, and we clearly are, that is something Christians are committed to taking very seriously.