In 2017 the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) published A country that works for all children, a policy position paper that aimed to articulate the many challenges facing children and their families at the time and the wider contextual impact on them. It set out a range of asks for government to address challenges and the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) is updating this paper which will be published soon.

Much has changed in seven years but not necessarily for the better and the pandemic continues to impact on children and young people. Progress has not been made on urgent issues, such as child and family poverty, and things have continued to decline.