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The day job of her members has ‘never felt busier', says the new leader of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, Ann Graham.Expanding on the theme in her presidential address at London's Guildhall last week, she pointed to ‘unprecedented change on all fronts, initiated by different government departments, each working to their own timescale'.Graham, the corporate director of children's services in Haringey LBC, clearly does not shy away from speaking directly, standing up for children and the sector.With secretary of state for education Bridget Phillipson listening in the audience, Graham pointed to a lack of co-ordination within Whitehall, with ‘departments never knowingly coming together to consider what this means for children, or indeed how much change local systems and local leaders can absorb before becoming overwhelmed'.Directors of children's services (DCS) are system leaders whose ‘role is to challenge, advocate and ultimately, bang the table for children', she believes.While welcoming much of the Government's programme of reforms, particularly the focus on, and resourcing for, early help, Graham emphasises the ‘conditions of success'. These, she says, are ‘those contextual factors and enablers that are so important to the delivery of relational, impactful work with children and families – this is what makes a real difference to outcomes for children'.She adds: ‘The reforms are silent on these, so I suspect that even at full implementation, we will continue to have variation in both practice and outcomes. In the context of unprecedented change, with more still to come, I would urge government to consider how they hold themselves and their delivery arms, to account for progress – this is something that is lacking in the current narrative.'Children's services at Graham's home council Haringey have undergone massive transformation since it was at the centre of two failed child welfare cases. The council, which was criticised following the deaths of Victoria Climbie in 2000 and Peter Connelly in 2007, was given an ‘outstanding' rating by Ofsted for the first time in February. This, according to Graham at the time, was ‘the outcome of years of sustained improvement, dedication of our staff and genuine partnership across our communities'.A social worker by background, Graham says she was shaped while growing up by accounts of the civil rights movement, finding ‘powerful voices' and ‘stories and personal histories beyond the school system. I immersed myself in them'.This influence is clear in her speech that mentions the project she has led for six years working with the Met Police to see the stopping and searching of young people through a safeguarding lens. The aim is to identify risk and ‘collectively and appropriately respond to that risk'. It is an approach now operating across London.She points to ‘significant issues of disproportionality in this space, where in London it is predominantly Black boys who are stopped and searched, and that for the vast majority nothing is found, only for them to be stopped and searched again with the same outcome'. Haringey and the Met Police are planning to produce a report on the findings of the stop and search project later this year.Speaking to The MJ, Graham says: ‘We know that our adolescents are at risk of online harms. We also know our adolescents struggle with their mental health and that they are sometimes worried and anxious about their futures.‘One of the things that particularly got me into this space is about criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation and risks outside the home – but in particular, police stopping and searching young people.'The council found ‘through serious practice reviews that a child had been stopped and searched 17 times and no one knew'.‘So, I spoke with the police and advocated that wouldn't it be great if you could tell us of those children that you're worried about, or was it simply a coincidence that one child was stopped multiple times?‘Having a single strategy for adolescence, bringing everything together is what I'm really keen on and is one of my key priorities [as president].'The Government's plans for reforming the system of provision for children with special needs and disabilities (SEND) have finally been published, with an emphasis on improving inclusion in mainstream schools. But The MJ highlighted last week that councils remain in the dark about key details, despite needing to submit their final plans within two months, setting out how they will shift to an inclusive and sustainable local SEND system.Graham welcomes the overall direction of travel. But she tells The MJ: ‘My message to government would be that this needs to be funded and resourced well, not just with the injection of money now – it is incredibly positive and we welcome it – but for its entirety.‘I would also ask that there's flex in the system, because it is a 10-year programme where we see that it might need to flex so we get the outcomes we all want.'She adds: ‘I also think we need the time, the workforce, educational psychologists, speech and language therapists and all the other therapies to be in place to enable the vision to be delivered, and for teachers to be well trained. And all of it must be properly resourced.'

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ADCS

'Banging the table for children'

By Ann McGauran | 22 April 2026

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