Problems with children are more complex than when charity started

BARNARDO’S has been helping vulnerable children and young people for 152 years.

In Thomas Barnardo’s time the problems facing children were severe and clear for all to see - children without parents, in poor health, out of school, sleeping on rooftops and in alleyways.

There have been some huge improvements since then but the problems facing children today are real, urgent, complex and dangerously

less visible.

Emerging evidence from our frontline services suggests a growing number of young people are facing multiple and overlapping dangers including early trauma and neglect, grooming, sexual abuse, criminal exploitation, drugs and gangs.

The demand for children’s services and the growing complexity of need are simply outstripping the resources available to local authorities.

As a result, many councils have to concentrate their limited resources on help for children with the highest level of need.

And too often this is at the expense of preventative services - such as children’s centres, family hubs and youth work - creating a vicious cycle where too many children reach crisis point before they can access support.

The current commissioning environment only compounds pressures on services by encouraging competition over collaboration, which means that charities are forced to spend donor’s money chasing contracts even when they do not win.

At Barnardo’s we believe that part of the answer is to develop radical new approaches to delivering children’s services, forming long-term strategic partnerships with councils, the police, NHS, and other charities to co-design and deliver the services children, families and communities really need.

The aim is not just to solve the problems of today, but to think ahead to tomorrow - so we can intervene early, long before children reach that crisis point.

We must keep one step ahead, investing in long-term partnerships, sharing knowledge, testing new approaches and above all, listening to what young people really need.

That is the only way to achieve our ultimate goal - of better outcomes for more children. Javed Khan Barnardo’s chief executive