ADCS Conference
Last week our CEO Emma Taylor attended the annual ADCS conference where all DCSs and Children’s Trust CEOs gathered to hear about latest developments and issues within Children’s Services.
We were able to listen to our Minister for Children and Families, Janet Daby, whose speech advocated strongly for early help and intervention and emphasised the need to recruit more foster carers. We also heard from HM Chief Inspector of Ofsted, Sir Martyn Oliver and the second Permanent Secretary for Health and Social Care, Tom Riordan who spoke about the NHS plan and the implications for children.
There was a range of topics covered throughout the conference, including: addressing discrimination, bias, and inequality in children’s services leadership, responding to violence against women and girls, serious youth violence; and securing sufficient placements for children.
During these sessions, a few issues stood out:
- Everyone agreed that outside of Covid, we are experiencing the most unprecedented level of change across the public sector
- We must make sure that equity, diversity, and inclusion remains a priority, and that we continue to promote anti-racist practice
- We are continuing to manage the challenges in the care market (residential and fostering) with continuing profiteering from the private sector
- There is innovative work taking place across the country that we all can learn from
However, it was Ofsted’s message that really stood out - whatever change we may be going through, it is our work with children that remains at the core. What matters is that we make the best decisions for children, knowing where each child is up to, what progress has been made and what our plans are for each individual child.
