UK Residents! Do you live in Blackpool, Birmingham, Herefordshire, Cambridgeshire, Doncaster, Rochdale, Isle of Wight or Calderdale?
Did you know that your local councils child protection has been deemed INADEQUATE (does not meet bare minimum requirements) following Ofsted inspections in the last 6 months?
This means that there are children IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, who are scared, hurt, suffering, feeling lost and isolated…and your council FAILS to protect them, even to a the very basic level required for an ‘adequate’ rating from Ofsted.
My name is Colleen, I manage AAA, and i live on The Isle of Wight.
I think this is entirely unacceptable, and i also think it is my responsibility to speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves. I want the local authority to know, that as a member of this community, a tax-payer, a citizen, i expect them to genuinely commit to doing EVERYTHING within their power to protect vulnerable children. I want them to know that i am watching.
I regularly write to my local MP about these issues, but i don’t feel like this is not enough.
I have been following the story about my failing local child protection authority in my local paper. I discovered that a ‘Children And Young People Scrutiny Panel’ will be discussing the report and the council response to it. I wondered, who is on the panel, and why?
I discovered that the Children and Young People Scrutiny Panel is comprised of Councillors from the various areas of my constituency (Councillors scrutinizing the council?). More importantly, i found out that the meetings of the panel are open to the public, who can submit questions (in writing, beforehand), and attend.
So i am presently reading through the Ofsted full report, and making notes. I want to go along to these meetings, equipped with the right information, so that i can try to make sure that the children in my community are safer.
I’m nervous ( i am not a professional and i feel completely out of my depth!), but i feel like i must do something, and this is the only thing i can think of. If nothing else, at least i will be sending an important message to the relevant authorities: the safety of children MATTERS to us, to the voters, and we ARE watching.
If you live in one of the aforementioned 8 councils that have inadequate child protection, and you feel like me, there are likely similar panels set up in your area.
To find out, go to your local council website, and look for a section titled something like ‘meetings’ or ‘committees’, or similar, or search ‘child protection’.
You should be able to find scheduled meetings, agendas, minutes for previous meetings, and a link to the Ofsted report that will highlight the problems.
Alternatively, if you look in your local paper (online, too) there are likely to be articles relating to the child protection failure, and the council response to it, you might be able to find details there. I emailed a reporter who kindly helped me after i read his article relating to the failure.
If that doesn’t do it, if you message me, i will endeavor to find out details of local response to the Ofsted report, and how you can represent the vulnerable children in your community.
Thanks :)
Colleen x
NEWS STORY: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-21180524
Action Against Abuse 