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The ‘Change for Children’ Programme in England: Towards the ‘Preventive‐Surveillance State’
Author(s) -
Parton Nigel
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of law and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.263
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1467-6478
pISSN - 0263-323X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6478.2008.00420.x
Subject(s) - state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , order (exchange) , political science , information exchange , public administration , public relations , economic growth , business , engineering , economics , linguistics , philosophy , finance , algorithm , computer science , telecommunications
Following the Children Act 2004 and the launch of the ‘Every Child Matters: Change for Children’ programme, England has embarked on the most ambitious changes in children's services for over a generation. While the government presented the changes as a response to the Laming Report into the death of Victoria Climbié, 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 relationships 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.