The ‘Change for Children’ Programme in England: Towards the ‘Preventive‐Surveillance State’
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2008.00420.x |
| Date | 01 March 2008 |
| Published date | 01 March 2008 |
| Author | Nigel Parton |
JOURNAL OF LAW AND SOCIETY
VOLUME 35, NUMBER 1, MARCH 2008
ISSN: 0263-323X, pp. 166±87
The `Change for Children' Programme in England:
Towards the `Preventive-Surveillance State'
Nigel Parton*
Matters: Change for Children' programme, England has embarked on
the most ambitious changes in children's services for over a genera-
tion. While the government presented the changes as a response to the
Laming Report into the death of Victoria Climbie
Â, they are much more
than this. They build on a number of ideas and policies that had been
developed over a number of years, which emphasize the importance of
intervening in children's lives at an early stage in order to prevent
problems in later life. This paper provides a critical analysis of the
assumptions that underpin the changes and argues that the relation-
ships between parents, children, professionals, and the state, and their
respective responsibilities, are being reconfigured as a result, and that
the priority given to the accumulation, monitoring, and exchange of
electronic information has taken on a central significance. What we
are witnessing is the emergence of the `preventive-surveillance' state,
where the role of the state is becoming broader, more interventive, and
regulatory at the same time.
INTRODUCTION
The launch of the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme in
December 2004,
1
following the publication of the Green Paper, Every Child
Matters,
2
and the passage of the Children Act in 2004, marked a significant
watershed in thinking about children's services in England and has heralded
a major period of reform and change. The purpose of this paper is to analyse
166
ß2008 The Author. Editorial organization ß2008 Cardiff University Law School. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA
*Centre for Applied Childhood Studies, Univer sity of Huddersfield,
Huddersfield HD1 3DH, England
n.parton@hud.ac.uk
1HMGovernment, Every Child Matters: Change for Children (2004).
2 Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Every Child Matters (2003; Cm. 5860).
critically some of the key assumptions that underpin the changes and to
assess their possible implications for policy and practice. In the process I will
argue that what we are witnessing is the emergence of the `preventive-
surveillance state' and that the changes will fundamentally reorder the
relationship between children, parents, professionals, and the state. Further, I
will argue that the changes have major implications for the civil liberties and
human rights of the citizen, particularly for children and parents, and
increase the power and responsibilities of professionals in a wide range of
social welfare, health, and criminal justice agencies.
While the changes have been presented as a direct response to the public
inquiry into the death of Victoria ClimbieÂ, they are much mor e than this.
3
They aimed to take forward many ideas about intervening at a much earlier
stage in children's lives in order to prevent a range of problems in later life,
particularly in relation to educational attainment, unemployment, and crime,
and have a much longer and more complex genealogy than simply being a
response to the problems identified in the Laming Report.
4
The changes build
on much of the research and thinking which had become evident in the mid
1990s and which formed the basis of many of the policies which were intro-
duced by the New Labour government in relation to children and childhood,
where child development was seen as key and where children were concep-
tualized primarily as future citizens requiring both safeguarding and invest-
ment. However, because of the high media, public, and political opprobrium
arising from the death of Victoria Climbie and the need for the government to
be seen to be actively responding to the Laming Report, the government was
provided with an ideal opportunity for introducing wide-ranging and radical
changes which aimed to realize the potential of all children. The combination
of wanting to introduce changes which would both broaden the scope of
prevention while trying to reduce the chances of a child dying in the tragic
circumstances experienced by Victoria Climbie mean that the role of the state
will become broader, more interventive, and regulatory at the same time.
167
3 Lord Laming, The Victoria Climbie
ÂInquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Lord Laming
(2003; Cm 5730). Victoria Adjo Climbie was born on the Ivory Coast on 2 November
1991. Her aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, brought her to London in April 1999. In the
following nine months the family were known to four different local authority social
service departments, two hospitals, two police child protection teams and a family
centre run by the NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children).
However, when she died on 25 February 2000, the Home Office pathologist found 128
separate injuries on her body as a result of being beaten by a range of sharp and blunt
instruments. It was the worst case of deliberate harm to a child that he had ever seen.
Marie Therese Kouao and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, were convicted of her murder
in January 2001. The government immediately set up a public inquiry chaired by Lord
Laming to investigate the involvement of the various public agencies in the case and to
make recommendations for change to ensure that such a death could be avoided in the
future. Lord Laming's report was published in January 2003.
4N.Parton, Safeguarding Childhood: Early Intervention and Surveillance in a Late
Modern Society (2006).
ß2008 The Author. Editorial organization ß2008 Cardiff University Law School
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