£30m move to end the neglect of city children in Glasgow

PLANS to spend £30million tackling child neglect in Glasgow have been welcomed by children’s welfare campaigners. The city’s director of public health has announced a series of new measures aimed at protecting children at risk of abuse as a result of poverty or parental drug and alcohol abuse.

Dr Linda de Caestecker wants to create a dedicated pool of around 800 staff trained to offer families help with parenting and identify children suffering neglect at an earlier stage.

It comes after an official report on child protection services in Glasgow highlighted concerns that the thresholds for intervention within vulnerable families are too high.

Attention and resources are often directed towards children at a very high risk, which reduces the capacity to spot potential problems at an earlier stage.

Statistics show around 10,000 children in Glasgow are known to social workers but only 300 are in care or other support services. There is currently only one health visitor for every 206 families in the city.

Around 38% of children in the city are living in poverty, one of the highest rates in the UK, and 20,000 are affected by substance misuse.

Research shows a third of children who have experienced neglect will exhibit psychological or behavioural symptoms in later life such as physical aggression, use of weapons, cruelty towards animals or other anti-social behaviour.

Early stress can also have an effect on the structure of the brain, causing problems with memory and reasoning.

Dr de Caestecker, director of public health for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “Most parents start out with good intentions but through problems with addictions or lack of experience they are just not able to follow through and we want to support them.

“We always say the most important years of a child’s life are the first four years.

“There is a consensus within both health and social care staff that the thresholds for intervention are too high. By putting services in earlier we can prevent problems happening before the cost to the child and society is much higher.

“Part of it is doing what we already do better but if we are really serious about improving the situation in Glasgow we need a shift of resources.”

A new study revealed 150 of the worst cases of child abuse have come to light since the Baby P tragedy.

In the past six months, UK authorities have launched nearly two probes a week into abuse or neglect.

Dr de Caestecker is making the case for £30m of the city’s health budget to be spent over the next three years on a range of child-protection measures.

This would include rolling out the Triple P, Positive Parenting Programme, a widely used Australian system that provides intensive help with parenting skills.

The number of specialised support staff will be increased by 86 next year, 253 the next year and 477 in 2012 with some staff retrained and other posts created.

Childcare expert Alan Sinclair said: “The greatest form of poverty is the poverty of lack of care.

“You can be poor but still look after a child and we need to help parents become better mums and dads. Most parents have a very deep instinct that they want their child to have a better life than they did. Pregnancy can be critical moment for parents when they are more likely to change behaviour. It can galvanise them.

“If a child has suffered bad parenting there is a very big chance they will grow up to be bad parents themselves. It is critical that we get in there early.”

Damning facts of life

GLASGOW has around 20%, or 3000, of the total number of children in care in Scotland.

One in three kids in the city lives in workless households in comparison with one in five nationally.

And 63% of city children live in low-income families.

More than half of women giving birth in Glasgow live in the most deprived areas of the city. Substance misuse affects around 20,000 children in Glasgow.

More than 25,000, or 34%, of Glasgow’s children have significant education challenges.

This results in around a quarter of young people attaining at least five SCVQ qualifications in S4, compared with 35% nationally.