We need to reclaim the founding principles of 1989’s Children Act

Thirty years ago, the Children Act 1989 received royal assent and fundamentally changed children’s standing in law. Central to the act was recognition that the child’s best interest and welfare is the first and paramount consideration, thus rebalancing children’s and parents’ rights. We work to a children’s act, not a parents’ act.

Then, 15 years ago, the 2004 act went further, providing the legal underpinning for the Every Child Matters framework. This act gave clear accountability for children’s outcomes in a local area in the form of the new role of director of children’s services (DCS).

It seems right on these twin anniversaries that we reflect on the successes of the acts and the challenges facing children, families and services today.

Both acts laid the pathway to real progress at national and local levels. The care system is delivering better outcomes than ever and we are getting better at achieving permanent arrangements. We’re good at child protection: England has one of the safest child protection systems in the world and we have a better understanding of vulnerability.

I look back on well over 30 years of public service with a great deal of pride at what we have achieved for children. I have been privileged to spend my professional life working alongside countless committed professionals who share a determination to improve children’s lives. I see daily that frontline practice and strategic work builds around the child’s voice, their views and wishes in a way that was barely evident 30 years ago. I am proud of how much more we know about what good looks like and how to deliver it.

However, I fear that if national policies remain unchanged, then more than 5 million children will soon be living in poverty. Poverty damages childhoods; it damages life chances; and it stores up costs for the NHS and adult social care. There is no excuse for the state’s inadequate response to tackle child and family poverty.

The drafters of the acts could not have envisioned that children’s services would be working with current levels of pressure. Or that a 50% reduction in local government funding would take us far from the principles of prevention enshrined in the 1989 act. When money is tight, non-statutory services are most at risk. There has been a 60% fall in spending on early-help services – services that provide a safety net for families before they reach crisis point.

The potent combination of austerity, rising demand, fewer resources and a government whose attention for almost four years has been largely focused elsewhere endangers the ambitious intentions of the acts. There is still much to do if we are to become a country that works for all children. In this context, the role of the DCS to ensure a relentless focus on the lived experiences of children has never been more important.

We don’t need to rip up the acts and start again: local authorities take the child-centred principles of the acts into all they do and central government must follow suit. We urge government to work with us to reclaim the preventive principles of the 1989 act. Youth workers, children’s centres and family support workers aren’t just “nice to have” – they are the only thing stopping us becoming a wholly blue-light service.

Rachel Dickinson is executive director for people at Barnsley council and president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services