Child neglect fears as more cuts are unveiled

September 16 2011
by Dave Toomer
Incidents like the tragic death of Wythenshawe toddler Alex Sutherland could happen again if planned cuts to children's services go-ahead, local campaigners have warned.

Manchester City Council plans to phase out day care services, with a cost of 390 jobs, as part of its efforts to slash £170m from its budget over two years.

And Wythenshawe community creche worker, Alison Jones, also battling to keep Sure Start centres open, is calling on parents and workers to junite and fight the cuts. Alison will be speaking at next Wednesday's Wythenshawe Against Cuts meeting.

Day care services currenly meet 11% of the city's needs for under-5s. Two council run nurseries in Wythenshawe in Brookfield Gardens and Poundswick Lane face the axe under the plans.

Another proposed change is the introduction of an outreach worker for all parents of newborn babies.

And campaigners say the cuts will have a devastating effect on child care. They are worried the cuts will lead to more children slipping through the net and facing greater risk of abuse.

Alison told the reporter: "These services are desperately needed. There is a danger we will return to the burden of childcare being put on the community and that could lead to more cases of neglect as children slip through the net.

"We need to get the message out to parents that if they want to continue to use these services they need to join our campaign. Sure Start centres are also under threat butif we had not been campaigning and making a noise, those centres would be gone by now."

Alex Sutherland died aged 13 months at his Baguley home in November 2009. His mother, Tracy Sutherland, admitted neglect and was jailed for 27 months last April. A serious case review by the Manchester Safeguarding Children's Board, found the case was "poorly managed throughout" and that Alex's neglect was "both predictable and preventable".

Campaigners fear that cuts will lead to more gaps in the service and increase the chances of more cases of neglect.

And social policy expert Professor Eilleen Munro, in a report published earlier this year on the shake-up of child protection in the wake of the Baby Peter Connelly tragedy, highlighted the role of early years services and Sure Start centres in making kids safer.

The government commissioned report places an emphasis on early intervention, calling on the government to place a duty on local councils to ensure there are enough early-help services for children, young people and families.

In particular it singles out the effectiveness of Sure Start Children's Centres in providing early help and intervention.

In her report, the London School of Economics says: "Sure Start Children’s Centres are well placed to provide early help to children and families. The Government has committed to retaining a network of children’s centres, accessible to all families but focused on those in greatest need. There remains a duty for local authorities to ensure that there is sufficient provision of children’s centres to meet local need
.
"Many families are already familiar with the range of services delivered from Sure
Start Children’s Centres including Health Visitors and wider therapeutic services. The best Sure Start Children’s Centres know their communities well and already work holistically with the whole family, acting as hubs for multi-agency teams with access to social work expertise that allows conversations around the types of helpand interventions that are needed to support children, young people and families."

Manchester City Council has defended the cuts as the best way make savings imposed on it by the government while maintaining an effective service.

A spokesman said: "This new outreach approach builds on the success of a pilot scheme carried out in Ardwick to ensure vulnerable families are identified and supported as soon as possible - before their needs escalate.

"This will ensure that services are delivered to the right families at the right time."

Councillor Afzal Khan, executive member for children's services, said: "We believe our early years proposals will enable us to use our reduced resources to the best effect, supporting those most in need to give them the best start in life.

"However developing these proposals has involved taking some challenging decisions in the context of the financial settlement from central government."

The cuts proposals will form the basis of a consultation running from 3 October to January 2012.