ADCS calls for urgent action on protection recommendations

The Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) has called immediate action on Professor Eileen Munro’s recommendations for improving child protection.

Following the government’s response to the Munro review, the ADCS has said targets on timescales and assessments need to be removed immediately and guidance surrounding serious case reviews should be amended straight away.

The association voiced support for proposals to offer more autonomy to social workers and reduce the amount of centrally dictated guidance on local social work practices.

While the organisation admitted that proposals to review child protection guidance and improve training and support will take time and investment, it said some recommendations can be implemented relatively quickly.

ADCS vice-president Debbie Jones said: “The government’s response today gives us hope that this work will be taken forward in the same collaborative spirit as the review itself.

“This will not be a quick process and it will take time for professionals to get accustomed to more freedom and discretion, employers will need to support the transition from a command and control model of practice to one in which individuals take responsibility for their decisions.

“We believe that all areas of children’s social work would benefit from a similar review of the guidance and regulations prescribing ways of working with children and families. Local employers have a key role to play in supporting the workforce through these quite dramatic changes to ways of working.”

Jones also welcomed the focus on health agencies and schools in supporting children and families.

“Improvements to social work alone will not produce the change that we all want to see,” she said. “Professor Munro notes the changes in health and education as a risk to the multi-agency arrangements that are crucial to good child protection services.

“Local authorities will need to work with partners locally to build strong relationships across agencies, while central government will have a role to play in ensuring that child protection responsibilities are writ large in any structural changes being proposed.”