David Lane - Editor Go for Green We are of course talking about the Green Paper, Every Child Matters. It has been issued by the Government for discussion, with a deadline for responses of 1st December 2003. To date, most reactions have been very positive, with the main question being, Yes, but will it be properly implemented? At first reading, we have only one major concern. The failure to link the juvenile justice system in with the systems and measures described is an opportunity missed. The number of young people we lock up is scandalous, and despite the Howard Leagues success in getting childcare legislation applied to young people in prison establishments, there is still too great a gulf between them and the social education system. We are also somewhat sceptical about the hoped-for changes. We have not visited the British Museum Newspaper Library to check, but we would guess that a similar optimism about interprofessional co-operation and the value of the proposed new structures was expressed when specialist Childrens Departments were set up in 1948, and when they were replaced by generic Social Services Departments in 1971. The wheel has gone full circle, and over the last 55 years, the people with their shoulders to the wheel have been a mixture of humankind - some committed, some lazy, some wanting to collaborate and some guarding their patches. Why should the next 55 years prove to be any different? No system can be guaranteed to overcome human failure. The most that we can hope for is that the new measures will be more efficient and effective, and that the process of introducing them will encourage creativity. While re-organisations are expensive and waste staff time and energy which should be used in work with clients, the chance to rethink things can involve the workforce and generate interest and enthusiasm. Certainly, the chance to get involved in the debate about the future of childrens services is one which every professional should take seriously. The opportunity to mould the future so fundamentally does not come along very often - maybe once or twice in a career, - and so we urge everyone to seize it and put in their contribution, whether as a member of the National Childrens Bureau, Social Care Association or Caring for Children or as an individual. We are fortunate in this country to have a Government which is investing seriously in childrens services, appointing a Childrens Minister and embarking on one initiative after another, which, as the Green Paper shows, are adding up to form an impressive and fairly comprehensive battery of services for children and young people of all ages. Things may not be perfect in Britain, as the Laming Inquiry demonstrated, but there are plenty of countries which are putting far fewer resources into their childrens services, and quite a few which would not encourage the type of debate which the Green Paper offers. If you believe Every Child Matters, join in. If you are concerned about the way things are going and wish to help to shape future thinking, why not join CfC? Then you can have your say. Click here for an application form. Click the logo for the latest Vacancies