investing in children
For months people working with children and young people have been trying to understand the political parties’ policies towards children and young people. The nearer we got to the election the clearer some things became with issues affecting children remaining on the agenda, but hardly featuring in the big questions raised during the leadership debates.
The last 10 years have seen significant new levels of investment in children’s services; 3,500 children’s centres across the country is a massive investment in a whole new community infrastructure, specifically targeted towards young children and their parents. In some ways these have been golden times and we shouldn’t lose sight of significant developments like this.
One thing’s clear, however, we can’t afford to maintain the level of investment and expect more new money. There will have to be cuts in public spending and it’s inevitable children’s services will feel the impact. Spurgeons will undoubtedly see further significant change in the months and years ahead. There will be threats to what we currently do, as well as opportunities to do things differently and possibly even to grow further. We will need great wisdom to steer a course through the twists and turns ahead; please pray for us, especially for a sense of hope and creativity to respond in constructive ways.
But while the election and its aftermath may well have big implications for Spurgeons, in some ways that’s a secondary issue. Our primary concern remains the impact of any changes on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young people in our society. To use an oft quoted phrase before the election; ‘I agree with Nick’ (Clegg) who said: “Any society, any government should be judged on its attitude towards, and impact on, the most vulnerable”.
My greatest fear, in a time of belt tightening, is that it will be the poorest, the marginalised and the most vulnerable children who end up paying the highest price. Vital preventative services that help keep families together, children safe and which stop problems escalating can be easy targets because much of their impact’s hard to measure and only seen over the long term. Financial support, housing and healthcare are all significant issues for poor families, and there remain children in this country who will sleep tonight in a bin bag on the floor. Part of our focus, as people who care passionately about the wellbeing of children, has to be on speaking out for those whose voices aren’t heard.
As financial pressures cause rising family breakup, children up and down the country are paying another price as they carry new emotional baggage and struggle to cope with the increased physical hardship that often ensues. Despite existing for 143 years, it’s clear the need for organisations like ours, and committed people like you, doesn’t diminish. Let’s harden our resolve to keep speaking up for ‘the least, the last and the lost’ and doing all we can to bring new hope and a brighter future to all children.