Vulnerable children ‘left by system to fend for themselves’
MORE THAN two million children in England are growing up in families where there are serious risks, a study has found.
The Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield said more than a million of the most vulnerable in the country are being let down by a system that leaves them to “fend for themselves”.
Her report into childhood vulnerability estimates that 2.1 million of England’s 11.8 million children are living in families with risks so serious that they need some level of help.
Some of the risks these children face include parents with mental health problems or parents who are alcoholics or have substance abuse problems.
Of the 2.1 million children, there are 890,000 with parents suffering serious mental health problems, 825,000 living in homes with domestic violence and 100,000 children who are living in a family with a “toxic trio” – mental health problems, domestic violence and alcohol and/or substance abuse.
The report widens the groups of children associated with forms of vulnerability or risk from 32 to 37 after identifying new groups of vulnerable children.
Ms Longfield, who is from Otley, said: “Over a million of the most vulnerable children in England cannot meet their own ambitions because they are being let down by a system that doesn’t recognise or support them, a system that too often leaves them and their families to fend for themselves until crisis point is reached.
“Not every vulnerable child needs state intervention, but this research gives us, in stark detail, the scale of need and the challenges ahead. Meeting them will not be easy or cost-free.
“It will require additional resources, effectively targeted, so that we move from a system that marginalises vulnerable children to one which helps them.
“Supporting vulnerable children should be the biggest social justice challenge of our time.
“Every day we see the huge pressures on the family courts, schools and the care systems of failing to take long-term action.
“The cost to the state is ultimately greater than it should be, and the cost to those vulnerable children missing out on support can last a lifetime.”
This research gives us, in stark detail, the scale of need. Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield.