Debate contribution: Children’s Social Care Services

Debate contribution by Mr Colin Crawford on 8 October 2024.

MLA: Mr Colin Crawford
Party at the time: Ulster Unionist Party
Date: 8 October 2024
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Committee Business
Heading: Children’s Social Care Services
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 4581567

Text

Much of today's debate has been and will be informed by the work of Professor Jones. Once again, I put on record my thanks and that of my party for the passion and commitment that he and his team displayed in conducting the review. The review also greatly benefited from all the young people, parents and carers engaging and sharing their lived experiences. Those experiences — the positive and the not so positive — so powerfully added to the review's final report. Professor Jones's report was comprehensive and far-reaching, but we should not have expected anything less, because, by late 2021, it was becoming clear that children's social care services were starting to reach crisis point. At the time that the review commenced, record numbers of children and young people were in care. There were also very high rates of staff vacancies and overall increasing child protection workloads. Unfortunately, young people, like others, were not always receiving the timely and quality support that they deserved. It was clear that something needed to be done. It was a case of either making changes or seeing services collapse, yet, for many of our young people, we simply cannot allow the safety net of children's social care services to fail. Sadly, the problems were not easing, and, crucially, demand was only continuing to grow. Professor Jones's review is a reliable and accurate benchmark against which we must measure future provision. From looking at the final report, which was published last summer, it is clear to me that the review left no stone unturned. The recommendations are ambitious but ultimately achievable. As the motion makes clear, our vulnerable children and families need "sustained action". Short-term fixes will no longer cut it. It is the role of the Assembly to help deliver the necessary changes set out in the review. Thankfully, a number of them were accepted even in advance of the public consultation. Although the vast majority of recommendations fall within the remit of the Department of Health, and I look forward to an update from the Minister, others are broader, reaching across more than just one Department. I hope that the Executive as a whole keep an open mind on the organisational and service changes recommended, because, although there are still challenges, there are also opportunities. We have to be realistic, however, and recognise that some of the recommendations will require additional funding. If the Assembly is united in its desire to deliver improved services, it should also be mindful of just how difficult that task has been made as a result of the most recent funding allocations. Nevertheless, wherever improvements can be made, they must be made. Our young people deserve no less, and the review has shone a spotlight on what needs to be done.

464 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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