LETTER: Working hard to protect Doncaster's children.

As child neglect and cruelty cases in Doncaster leap by 25%, the head of children's services in the borough explain what is being done to keep kids safe...

Last week, the Doncaster Free press reported that child cruelty and neglect cases had increased by 39% in South Yorkshire over the past three years.

Although the increase in Doncaster was significantly less than the rest of the region at 25%, this is an issue that is acknowledged as requiring constant attention across the borough by both Doncaster Children’s Services Trust and our partners in Doncaster Council, police, health and voluntary agencies - who are all working to keep our children safe and protect them from harm.

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Since the Trust was established in September 2014, it has been a priority for us to reduce the number of children and young people who are affected by neglect.

By focussing on providing help early to families who are having difficulties in providing the basic physical and emotional needs that support children’s health and development, our teams of specialist family support workers and social workers have been able to reduce the numbers of children becoming the subject of a Child Protection Plan for neglect by almost 26%.

Although we have made good progress to date, reducing the number of children needing a Child Protection Plan remains a priority for us and it is our ambition to reduce this figure yet further.

We are confident that by working with our partners to provide the right help at the right time to those families who need our support we can make real progress in improving the outcomes for our children and young people in Doncaster.

Paul Moffatt

Doncaster Children’s Services Trust