Services are not enough: child well‐being in a very unequal society
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.5042/jcs.2010.0553 |
| Date | 27 September 2010 |
| Pages | 80-88 |
| Published date | 27 September 2010 |
| Author | John Rowlands |
| Subject Matter | Education,Health & social care,Sociology |
Journal of Children’s Ser vices • V olume 5 Issue 3 • Sept ember 2010 © Pier Professional Ltd
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10.5042/jcs.2010.0553
Abstract
This article offers a resumé of, and reflection on, policy ideas that have emerged since the
It acknowledges the significance of working to beneficial child outcomes as both a cement to
pull services into coherence and as a measure of how well our children are doing. However,
children in the UK are not doing well when compared with other affluent societies. The article
invites consideration of whether we are asking too much of services in the face of enduring
inequality in our society.
Key words
Well-being; inequality; services; social pedagogy; need
we look to the US we find numerous targeted
programmes for all sorts of need. If we look to
some European countries, notably in Scandinavia,
we find policies on childhood characterised by the
responsibility for bringing up children proactively
shared between the State and the family. These
countries maintain professionals, trained in child
development, who work directly with families and
children in a range of settings. If we look at an
international comparison of outcome indicators of
child well-being, we see that these same countries
do well. The UK and US, by comparison, do
poorly. A number of recent publications assemble
evidence that income inequality is a key generator
of personal and social malaise. The more equal
societies in northern Europe tend also to see the
upbringing of children as a shared State/family
responsibility. This article invites consideration
of how far we can expect responsive services to
Introduction
This article is a resumé of, and reflection on,
recent policy ideas concerned with children in
difficulties. In the UK, we think of child welfare
in terms of manifest need that we attempt to
meet or offset by the provision of services. This is
essentially a reactive approach. It reflects a social
policy in which the State intervenes only when it
feels obliged and the costs of intervention bear
heavily on whether it happens at all. Funds tend
to flow to the children seen as in need of the
greatest protection. The need for reform has been
recognised in part by policies that have tried to
engage with a wider group of vulnerable children.
These policies have stressed ‘joined-up services’,
‘progressive universalism’ and the importance
of working to agreed outcomes for all children.
But they have not absolved us from the need to
do something when vulnerability is identified. If
Services are not enough:
child well-being in a very
unequal society
John Rowlands
Thomas Coram Research Unit, UK
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