Launch Of New Association For Directors Of Children’s Services

A new leadership association for directors of England’s 150 local authority children’s services departments is launched today, pledged to maintaining the highest standards of care, education and safeguarding for children throughout the country.

The new association has emerged as former directorates of education in local councils have merged with the child care side of the former social services departments to create the new children’s services departments (CSDs). The new directors will have responsibilities for all aspects of children’s education, safeguarding, social care, health and wellbeing.

What were once separate education departments and social services department have by and large ceased to exist, and the new CSDs must statutorily be in existence by next year.

For the first year of its existence the association will have joint presidents: John Coughlan, DCS for Hampshire and formerly president of the ADSS. And John Freeman, DCS Dudley and former president of the Confederation of Children’s Services Managers. The new association, which will recruit third tier senior managers within CSDs as well as directors, will have a maximum membership of some 3,000 children’s services managers.

At a launch function attended by children and families minister Beverley Hughes and DfES permanent secretary David Bell, the joint presidents pledged the new association to “addressing the wide range of children’s needs from an entirely new perspective: one that merges the highest concerns for children’s educational achievements, with our long established traditions of caring for, supporting and safeguarding them.

“Delivering the five outcomes of Every Child Matters will continue to be our chief aim and rationale and we look forward to the support of all our partner agencies – schools, health, police, social work and youth justice institutions – in achieving the objectives that the Green paper sets out.”