A Children’s Trust is a concept, which was developed by the Government as part of the Children’s Act 2004 Every Child Matters agenda. It is used to describe the way in which organisations and services delivering services to children and young people in an area must legally come together to plan, commission and develop more effective services that focus on the needs and outcomes of children and young people and deliver against the Every Child Matters Outcome framework.
Local areas have had the flexibility to develop Children’s Trust Arrangements or formally adopt Children’s Trust status as they see most effective. For some time in Oldham we have been developing and working to Children’s Trust arrangements under the banner of ‘Oldham’s Children and Young People Partnership’. Whilst we recognise the important point is not how we phrase our local arrangements but rather the way we work, a decision was made by the Cabinet of the Council on 4th February 2008 for us to adopt Children’s Trust status in order to more effectively deliver the Changing for Children agenda in Oldham. This means that we have revised our structures to ensure we deliver against the key Children's Trust principles; integrated governance, planning, commisioning and delivery. Read the Children's Trust vision here.
Oldham Children’s Trust is made up of the many organisations and agencies who deliver services to the children, young people and families of the Borough. It is a thematic partnership board of the Oldham Partnership which brings together the public, private, voluntary, community and faith sectors to improve the quality of life for local residents.
The focus of the Trust is on ensuring a consistent and strategic approach to the planning, delivery and improvement of services for the children, young people and families of Oldham. .
Through closer working between different groups of professionals, providers and communities, based on a shared understanding of need and a commitment to utilise resources in the most effective way, Oldham Children’s Trust is also able to ensure the four blocks from ‘Every Child Matters’ are firmly in place in order to secure the five outcomes for Children and Young People.
The five outcomes for children and young people are:
A glossary aiming to give you a better understanding of the acronyms and terms used by the different agencies making up Oldham Children’s Trust has been produced.
Glossary of Partnership Acronyms and Terms
The glossary also contains links to relevant Council and external web pages that will give even more detail about some of the acronyms and terms. This document will continue to be developed and updated. If you work with children and young people you can suggest additions to the glossary by contacting us. Make an addition to the glossary.
It is made up of a number of layers:
View a visual summary of Oldham Children’s Trust Governance Framework here
NB. It is important to recognise that as Oldham Children’s Trust becomes more established, further refinements to structures may be needed to ensure the Trust remains flexible and adaptable to changes at both a local and national level
Significant steps towards the achievement of Every Child Matters outcomes have been taken to progress Children’s Services in Oldham including, the creation of a Children, Young People and Families Directorate within Oldham Council and the publication of a Children and Young People Plan. We must continue to build on these achievements to continue to deliver better outcomes for our children and young people.
Find out more about Oldham’s Children and Young People Plan 2008-2011 here.
One Future- Parent version of the Children and Young People Plan 2008-2011