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Save ContactPoint: Background, consultation and trailblazers
Lord Laming's 2003 report into the death of Victoria Climbié made a number of recommendations and led to the development of the Every Child Matters (ECM) programme. The report highlighted the need to improve information exchange between different agencies working with children, and one of the recommendations was that the government investigate the feasibility of a database that covered all children; and provided basic identifying details and contact details for practitioners and services working with the child.
The DCSF has been developing ContactPoint since 2004. We have taken a very steady, staged approach, drawing in the appropriate expertise. From the outset we have been consulting and working with a wide range of organisations and practitioners across the children’s workforce, and with children and young people, to get their valuable input into the development of ContactPoint.
Trailblazers
The DCSF drew extensively on the experience of ‘trailblazer’ local authorities (LAs) who successfully piloted local directories. These directories all had the common element of holding basic information on every child in at least part of their local area.
The LAs and practitioners involved in the trailblazer pilots demonstrated that this type of tool does provide effective support to practitioners and managers and contributes to improved outcomes for children and young people.
Early consultations helped define a number of basic requirements for ContactPoint which applied across children's services. One of the conclusions that arose from the trailblazer work and consultation was that a national system is essential, because many children access services in different LAs or move between LAs.
For more information, read the trailblazer case studies and findings.
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Last updated on 15/02/2010
