Cabinet approves strategy to tackle child neglect
A new strategy that will support children at risk or impacted by neglect has been approved by St Helens Borough Council's Cabinet.
Article date: 25 February 2026
Co-produced with partners and families impacted by neglect, the St Helens Safeguarding Children Partnership Neglect Strategy 2025-2030 sets out seven priorities and objectives to prevent, identify, and respond to child neglect through a multi-agency, trauma-informed, and strength-based approach.
It aims to reduce the prevalence and impact of neglect by addressing its root causes, improving early intervention, and ensuring consistent, high-quality support for children and families.
Welcoming the report, Councillor Nova Charlton, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: "Neglect can be difficult to see, but for children who experience it, the effects can last a lifetime. By developing this strategy alongside partners, children, and families with lived experience, we're ensuring that our response is rooted in compassion, understanding, and practical support.
"Together, we can give families the help they need earlier and create safer, more secure futures for the children and young people of the borough who are our number one priority as a council."
The seven priorities are:
- Prioritise strategic commitment by all agencies to understand, prevent and reduce the impact of neglect
- Partnership working to overcome factors which prevent parents/carers from meeting the needs of their children
- Support and training for the multi-agency workforce to recognise and act on the signs of neglect
- The development of an easier to use and effective assessment tool to use when we are worried a child is experiencing neglect
- Improve the effectiveness of assessment, planning and interventions to reduce the neglect and respond to neglect in a consistent and timely way
- Increase number of staff trained in trauma informed approaches and agencies ways of working will support this way of working
- Evaluate practice and continually improve the effectiveness reduce the neglect of children and young people.
Read the full strategy: https://sthelens.moderngov.co.uk/documents/s175911/Appendix%201.pdf