Birmingham Children’s Trust exists to make a positive difference for children, young people and families in the city. We used to be called Children’s Services and be run by Birmingham City Council. For a long time our services were inadequate, and we needed to do much more to support disadvantaged children and young people in the city and make sure they were safe. We started making some important improvements – listening to and learning from others, improving our social work practice and supporting our staff to do their jobs well. We became a Children’s Trust in April 2018 to help us accelerate these changes. Our Trust is owned by, but independent from, Birmingham City Council. This means it can do things differently, and make changes so that disadvantaged young people in the city are better looked after. We’re known as a Community Interest Company. The Council is still responsible for making sure young people in the city are safe and happy, and will monitor the Trust’s work closely to make sure it is doing its job well.