TIME TO RENAME THE NSPCC

What is the NSPCC? It's the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Why change its name?

1) Founded two centuries ago, it has singularly failed to prevent cruelty to children

2) With an annual income of £118 million, it has become a self perpetuating policy machine which has not actually improved children's lives, but which has led to an ever-increasing emphasis on child protection.

3) This in turn has led to ever-rising levels of children in care (a recipe for a life on the streets or in prison) and ever diminishing funds for family support

4) So let's call on the NSPCC to rename itself The National Society for Parents and Children

5) The NSPCC hosted a podcast with Josh MacAlister, the Chair of the Independent Review of Children's Social Care in England, and his words - given the host - sum up the irony of the current situation:

"There are some trendlines that have been there for a number of years, for decades actually. One being the total number of children growing up in care at any one time has gone up and up, to the point where we're now north of 80,000 children in England in care at any one time. The costs of the system have gone up and up, the total costs of children's social care.

And something within that, the biggest story within what's happened, is the shift from spending on services to help families that have got real challenges where some help could make the family home environment safer for children and actually improve the quality of life for the whole family. Spending on that has gone down dramatically, and that's happened at the same time as spending on care has gone up.

So there is real financial pressure and that cycle that we're in, of spending more on late intervention crisis costs, is at the expense of earlier effective intervention for families".