Issue 87 Winter 2023/24 childreninwales.org.uk
Building a Wales where all children and young people have all their rights fulfilled
30th
anniversa
ry
(Part 2)
FEATURES Ysgol Y Ferch o’r Sger LGBT+ Cymru Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs
PLUS: National Lottery Community Fund Save the Children Promo Cymru
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Welcome
Welcome from Hugh Russell, CEO 6 4
Welcome! 8
Welcome from our Chief Executive
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Children in Wales/Young Wales
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Ysgol y Ferch o’r Sger
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Carmarthenshire County Council
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LGBT+ Cymru
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Save the Children Cymru
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ProMo Cymru
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Cardiff & Vale UHB
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University of the West of England
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National Lottery Community Fund
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Cardiff & Vale UHB, Ynys Saff
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Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs
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NYAS Cymru
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Platfform
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Croeso pawb. Welcome all, to this Winter edition of Children in Wales’ quarterly magazine. I am writing this introduction on the day that the Welsh Government has published its Child Poverty Strategy 2024. Although there has been some progress since the first draft of the Strategy was released last year, and we at Children in Wales have welcomed the chance to influence the drafting process (the final version is grounded on a foundation of children’s rights, for instance, a point we made repeatedly), this influence has only achieved so much, and we and our partners have come away disappointed, ultimately. The strategy fundamentally fails to provide a sense of accountability on this most important of issues. Although a monitoring framework has been promised, there are no targets in this strategy, making it much harder for us to understand the impact of the work that Welsh Government has committed to delivering. I don’t deny that many of the key levers to comprehensively end child poverty lie in Westminster. I acknowledge that the impact of inflation and the long, slow decay imposed on our public services by austerity policies has had a major impact on our ability in Wales to respond to the needs of children and their families. And I accept the statement from the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip that “tackling child poverty is at the heart of everything we do” – there have been numerous examples delivered or funded by this government of initiatives that bear this statement out. But with child poverty at such high levels across the country, it remains dispiriting to be unable to see the specific indicators that need to be reached in order to turn things around at a national scale. It would be easy to feel gloomy in this context, but, as the contributions to this issue of the magazine show us, there is still much to be optimistic about!
We set the theme of this issue to be a focus on the future of children’s rights in Wales. We are coming to the end of our 30th anniversary year now and, having reflected on progress over that period in our last issue, it feels appropriate to use this magazine to look forward at what’s being done across Wales now and to think about what comes next. Our sector is full of passion, innovation and energy. The articles set out here demonstrate that across a range of fields: from education, to health, to early years provision. Articles that particularly caught my eye in this issue included a piece on the work that Ysgol y Ferch o’r Sger, in Bridgend do to embed children’s rights in their pupils’ daily lives, including parents in their work to ensure that the lessons of the classroom are consistent with those at home. There’s a brilliant write-up of the innovative work of the Early Years Integration Team in Carmarthenshire, bringing a clear children’s rights focus to their work with young infants and their parents. I also loved reading Dominique Drummond’s piece about the campaigning undertaken by NYAS Cymru’s Project Unity, which is all about ensuring that children born to parents who have experience of the care system achieve the best possible outcomes. I’d like to thank all of our contributors and I hope that this issue leaves you feeling similarly buoyed by the variety of brilliant work taking place across Wales to improve the lives of children and young people.
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Editor: Louise O’Neill louise.oneill@childreninwales.org.uk 21 Windsor Place, Cardiff CF10 3BY 029 2034 2434 @ChildreninWales info@childreninwales.org.uk
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Celebrating Universal Children’s Day at the Young Wales Festival 2023 Children in Wales/Young Wales On Saturday, 18 November 2023 Children in Wales celebrated Universal Children’s Day via our annual Young Wales Festival at Swansea University, Bay Campus. This year, some of the costs associated with the event were generously sponsored by Cactus Design Ltd and Techsol Group Ltd. The event offered young people the opportunity to engage with crucial decision makers, including the Minister for Social Justice, the Deputy Minister for Social Services and Senior Policy Managers for the Welsh Government. As the day began, our attendees arrived and registered for the upcoming workshops and roundtables. On arrival, there were amazing performances by the young people of Anthem on stage in the Main Hall. This was also the main exhibition area, which was filled with stands from other organisations who offered fun activities and talking points. To officially open the festival, Children in Wales’ CEO, Hugh Russell, welcomed the attendees and gave his opening speech. He was followed by our first speaker, Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan MS before our young volunteers gave a presentation on our latest project, the Children in Wales 30th Anniversary book: ‘Pause, Play, Fast Forward: The Journey of Children in Wales’. The main event soon began with the first of the interactive workshops and roundtables taking place. These sessions allowed the children and young people who attended to have their voices heard by Ministers and other officials, giving them a chance to discuss the topics that were important to them. The interactive workshops included topics such as Anxiety and Stress, Circus Skills, Drama, The National Museum Wales, Welsh Youth Parliament and Confidence and Skills Building. These workshops were repeated throughout the day to ensure every child and young person had a chance to get actively involved. There were 6 roundtables available during the event, headed by a variety of key speakers. Many of the children and young people who attended fully engaged with the topics and ensured their opinions were heard. These sessions included: Mental Health and Wellbeing - Millie Boswell, Senior Policy Manager for the Welsh Government, was the official for this roundtable, discussing mental health support in schools and the current waiting times for young people seeking professional support. The continuity and consistency of care was also considered. Cost of Living - Jane Hutt MS, Minister for Social Justice, lead the roundtable on the Cost of Living. The young people who attended discussed how EDI relates to poverty, the support available for those with protected characteristics and how to address the rising cost of essential items and services. They also questioned how we can ensure young people live rather than survive during this crisis. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion - The third session of the day was with Julie Morgan MS, the Deputy Minister for Social Services. This covered questions such as how do we ensure all children and young people have access to all their rights? How do we create inclusive services and environments and how does Wales fulfil its commitment to being a nation of sanctuary? Climate Change - Hugh Russell, CEO of Children in Wales, covered the Climate Change roundtable. He and the young people who attended discussed the impacts of climate change in Wales, how they are being addressed and how to transform the current transport infrastructure in response to the climate crisis. They also gave their opinion on how Wales can influence global policy to protect future generations. Education - Alongside 3 Welsh Government education officials, the young people who attended this roundtable explored the impacts of poverty and the cost of living on education. They considered how we can enable all children and young people to reach their full potential and how we can create practitioners, services and environments that are nurturing and safe for all ages. Children’s Rights and Participation - The final roundtable of the day was hosted by Rocio Cifuentes, Children’s Commissioner for Wales. A highly popular session, those who attended explored how we can raise awareness of children’s rights in Wales and how we can make the country more child friendly. They also considered youth participation in Wales and the young people’s measure.
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There were several breaks throughout the day, providing guests with an opportunity to get refreshments, meet the organisations at their stalls and, of course, watch the talented young performers from Anthem. The event then closed with a riveting speech and thank you from the Chair of Children in Wales, Helen Mary Jones. Overall, the Young Wales Festival 2023 offered an engaging day out in honour of Universal Children’s Day. It provided our young volunteers with a platform to share their achievements, get involved in interesting workshops and a chance to meet significant Welsh decision-makers to talk about the topics that matter to them. It also gave us a chance to celebrate the rights of children and young people and the work that has been done over Children in Wales’ 30-years of service. Hand-in-hand with this, we had organised a creative opportunity for schools, community groups, childcare and play settings to raise awareness of Children’s Rights and get children and young people thinking about which rights are most important to them. We asked children and young people to create their own bunting design based on their chosen children’s right and were delighted to announce the winners at the Festival and display their work: First place: a pupil from Ysgol y Ferch o’r Sger, Bridgend Second place: a pupil from Trellech School, Monmouthshire Third place: a pupil from Bryn Celyn Primary School, Cardiff Thank you to everyone who took part and we look forward to the next one in 2024.
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Our Children’s Rights Journey Delyth Davies, Ysgol y Ferch o’r Sger, Bridgend
Ysgol Y Ferch O’r Sgêr is very proud to be a rights respecting school. Having started our journey in the Autumn of 2018 as part of our pupil wellbeing strategy, we were awarded our Silver Children’s Rights award in the Spring of 2019. We have been continuing to raise awareness of Children’s Rights within our school community and beyond ever since.
CIW Spring Magazine 2024 Centering Children’s Rights in a Time of Change
Our Children’s Rights Programme runs throughout the school year with focus being given to individual articles of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child in a weekly assembly. The programme is launched every September with each class being provided with a copy of the rights in the form of a poster. The School Council presents the concepts of ‘Needs and Wants’ in a whole school assembly and pupils from all classes are set the challenge of establishing a class Rights Charter and a Needs and Wants chart. Rights are often associated with special events on the school calendar for instance Children in Need Day, Anti-bullying week and World Water Day and children undertake related activities in class appropriate to their age and stage of development. Parents are encouraged to be a part of our programme and a flyer encouraging parents to support their child’s rights to education, water, healthy food and play are distributed at the beginning of the school year. The children’s right to express their opinions is secured by an active School Council and all children take part in a reflection and planning session on a Friday afternoon to evaluate their prior learning and to plan for the week ahead. Projects with agencies such as the NSPCC, the Police School Liaison Service, the Fire Service and Kerb Craft ensure that the children’s right to be safe is given a high priority and Playground Peacemakers support peers to treat each other respectfully during breaktime. This year we are acknowledging how important play is for our wellbeing and securing our right to play further by holding monthly ‘Outdoor Learning Days’ and ‘Wellbeing Days’. We have also composed Children’s Rights songs which we enjoy performing at every opportunity. Whilst learning about our rights we also ensure that our pupils develop an awareness of equity and equality and that they understand that with rights come responsibilities-the responsibility of ensuring that we do our best to respect and secure the rights of others at every opportunity. If you would like to learn more about the work we undertake at the school, please email: pennaeth@yfos.pen-y-bont.cymru
With a new First Minister taking office in March 2024, a UK Government election on the near horizon, and a Senedd election to prepare for in the next two years, we want to take this opportunity to highlight what still needs to change in Wales for all children to be able to access all of their rights. We’d like to showcase the best of the work that our members are doing to achieve this goal and ask you to contribute articles, which highlight both the good practice and the gaps. You might like to consider: * What priorities would you set for a new First Minister? * Similarly, what priorities do you want to see a new UK Government address and how? * Tell us about work that you are doing to help children to access their rights, the barriers you face and what needs to change to allow you to achieve still greater outcomes * Reflections on what the current Welsh Government is doing to help children access their rights – what is working well and where are the gaps? * Whose voices do you want new politicians to hear and what can we do to amplify them? Articles should: * Be between 500 and 750 words * Be available in English and Welsh * Have a title and author and include a couple of good quality JPEG photos (optional) * Be submitted by Thursday, 28 March 2024. Please email louise.oneill@childreninwales.org.uk to reserve your space.
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Promoting the rights of the child in the early years Tina Taylor, Carmarthenshire County Council We are the Early Years Integration Team, a pathfinding project for Welsh Government. The team is made up of Hywel Dda UHB Midwives and Health Visitors together with a support team from Carmarthenshire County Council. As an early years team we have a great interest in children’s rights and particularly for the very young children that we work with. As an early years team it is sometimes difficult to demonstrate how we promote and uphold the rights of the child. Being so young, the children themselves are either pre-verbal or have limited vocabulary, but it doesn’t mean that they do not have a voice. Even the youngest baby will let us know when they need feeding, when they are uncomfortable or in need of contact. Very young babies will show clear interest in interactions with parents, particularly mum and they will turn away if they do not want to be engaged. It is our duty to help parents to observe and respond to the cues of the baby as these are their only way of communicating what they need. For example, promoting responsive feeding for breast and bottle feeding babies. This includes simple messages about concepts such as ‘paced feeding’ for bottle fed babies, whereby we try to avoid force feeding babies by gravity or a perception of having to take a certain amount. If we let the baby guide us, they
will naturally take little and often. Babies need to be held and we can demonstrate how a baby’s heart rate regulates when close to mum or dad, especially during skin-to-skin contact. We promote ‘loving’ your baby. Don’t be afraid of spoiling them. Holding and talking to them will make them feel secure and be a happy baby. It promotes good brain development and emotional health and is naturally what they need and wants, and they will ask for it. Sadly, some families have situations or experiences that impact negatively on the child. Families may be affected by financial challenges, housing, isolation, mental health issues or social problems. Having these challenges does not necessarily mean that there are safeguarding concerns, but there can be complex issues such as reduced capacity to meet health needs, poor nutrition or reduced capacity to manage the day to day running of a home. The most complex families will involve safeguarding, and here we are clear about upholding the rights of the child with guidance that specifically identifies articles within the UNCRC to protect children. Supporting the parent, supports the child. This too is identified within the UNCRC. Helping parents to understand why the rights of the child are important to their child, and how they can be upheld is an important part of our work. Helping them understand that their baby needs social interactions, that they are able to communicate what they need and that they have the right to thrive is a challenge. It is a challenge that we accept, but we need to do more. While it is relatively clear
how we may identify and evidence how we uphold the rights of the child when there are safeguarding concerns, thankfully, the vast majority of children do not come into that category. All children have the right to play, to a good standard of living (Article 27), to health care (Article 24), to education (Article 28) and they also have the right to parents that are supported to meet their needs (Article 18). As health and local authority professionals, that is our duty. If you would like to discuss our team’s work in more detail, please email: ttaylor@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
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Urgent appeal to save children’s lives Debbie Lane, LGBT+ Cymru
For over 19 years, the LGBT+ Cymru Helpline has helped hundreds of children and young people, with the counselling side of the charity called the Swansea Rainbow Counselling Centre. We offer face to face counselling for those that can travel to our therapy rooms in Swansea and online counselling, if appropriate, across the whole of Wales. Amongst the many different types of therapy we provide, recently over the past three years the increased need for counselling and support for our trans and non-binary clients has 12 folded. Our counselling service has been instrumental in helping trans and non-binary young people navigate their emotional journeys with dysphoria and how to illicit gender euphoria in order to ensure when they are of age, they have built resilience and certainty with their sense of self and identity.
When young people are referred to us we are in no way involved in encouraging or advising on the medical process, this lies far out of our remit. We are a therapeutic counselling service, aligned with the BACP ethical framework, of which within its principles promotes client autonomy. Also, contrary to the media and the few misguided professionals regarding children having gender reassignment, this is a myth and not true. Trans people need to be adults before receiving such medical interventions, of which we find many clients do not receive any such operations until they are in their late 20s.
The counsellors’ role is to go on the clients’ journey to ensure that if they choose to seek hormones and/or operations under the gender services, they have had the space to nurture their emotional identity/resilience and explore any potential uncertainties within their identity beforehand. This is vital, as in the past we have had clients detransition as a result of discoveries within therapy that ruled out gender dysphoria. Without our services those clients may have gone on to have life altering operations without the imperative selfexploration needed within such a complex client group.
Often when young people are referred to us, they have already contemplated or tried to carry out suicide. We find from a systemic point of view this is because of a number of factors, with the primary reason being a lack of understanding or acceptance from family, leaving the young people feeling isolated and without support or empathy from loved ones.
Another common theme that we have seen that contributes to the downturn of the wellbeing of our trans and non-binary clients, is varying levels of understanding and/or acceptance within school settings. Due to this inconsistency the young people are further reinforced to believe they do not have support or connection which, in turn, leaves them vulnerable to exploitation as a result of desperately seeking a sense of belonging and acceptance.
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With all these factors considered, our counsellors often see clients once this damage has already taken place, which is why we dedicate ourselves to ensuring we provide the best possible service to our young clients. One of the ways we do this is by not capping our sessions, which allows the long much needed therapeutic work to take place without the constraints of a 6-12 session cap, as it can take up to 5 to 10 sessions for a young person to feel they can trust you due to the setbacks they have often previously encountered.
Throughout the years we have helped hundreds of clients and, in a large number of cases, we have quite literally saved many children’s lives. Sadly, due to lack of funding, we have had to stop taking on new referrals since October 2023, hence are making this life saving appeal.
We urgently need funds to enable our vital counselling service to continue. The charity costs £150,000 a year to run at full capacity, supporting over 800 clients every year. The low running costs are due to most of our experienced counsellors being volunteers, wanting to give back to their community.
We need to become more self sufficient so we can continue to save more children’s lives. Our aim and deepest wish is to achieve 2,500 people to donate £5 a month so that we never need to be concerned and live in fear of losing another child’s life due to lack of funding. If you would like to learn more about our organisation and the services we provide, and help us with our fundraising, please send an email to: debbie@lgbtcymru.org.uk
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A century of campaigning on children’s rights Melanie Simmonds, Save the Children Cymru
A century ago, in 1924, Save the Children’s co-founder Eglantyne Jebb wrote the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It was the first major statement of children’s universal human rights which subsequently informed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which has been signed by almost every country in the world. Eglantyne Jebb firmly believed that without a specific statement on their rights, children would continue to be vulnerable, to be without protection and not listened to by adults. She said: “I believe we should claim certain rights for the children and labour for their universal recognition.” Children’s rights have always underpinned all of Save the Children’s work in Wales. Over the decades advocating and campaigning on a range of policy issues from a child rights perspective has led to important political changes and groundbreaking developments. These include helping to develop the Children in Wales umbrella body thirty years ago and creating the post of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and the Youth Assembly, then known as Funky Dragon. We have also played a central role as part of the UNCRC Monitoring Group which has led to ensuring children’s rights was made part of our domestic law in the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. We worked with Gypsy and Traveller children and families to help them access their basic rights to education and health. We supported children and young people in their rights to have a say in decisions about their future through projects such as the Participation Unit, Turn on the Rights, The Gilfach Crew, Young Asylum Seekers Advocacy Group, In My Backyard and Young Ambassadors in communities across Wales. The participants in these projects raised issues important to them including having a Living Wage, feeling safe in your community and the impact of poverty on young lives. Our history forms the bedrock of our strategic outlook for the next five years when we will strive to reduce the number of children growing up in poverty in Wales by working in partnership with others, listening to the latest evidence, and most importantly listening to the voices of children and families. Through this work, we aim to create innovative and sustainable change to ensure that all children have what they need for the best start in life and their basic rights met. Wales has made great strides in bringing forward legislation designed to improve the lives of children and young people and to make child rights practice a reality. But poverty remains the largest violation of their rights with nearly 1 in 4 children here growing up in its grip.
We understand that budgets are tight and difficult decisions have had to be made but with so many families struggling to afford basics such as food, clothes and to pay their bills, children cannot be the collateral damage of a challenging fiscal environment and be left to go to bed cold or without a hot meal in their tummies. It’s simply unacceptable and we all know that the long-term consequence of poverty is ultimately going to impact more on public spending if immediate action is not taken. If the Welsh Government is serious about tackling child poverty, clear targets and a funded delivery plan needs to be part of the Child Poverty Strategy. It must also be a priority for the next First Minister when starting his new role in the spring.
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Young people using their rights to create change to mental health services in Wales Halyna Soltys, ProMo Cymru
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Cyfannol – Safeguarding and Well-Being HUB, Emergency Department, University Hospital of Wales Nicola Hadley, Vicky Lee & Ainsty Fox, Cardiff & Vale UHB Cardiff and Vale University Health Board identified the need for skilled specialist practitioners, who can respond and support children and young people accessing hospital services. The development of the Safeguarding and Well-Being HUB within the Emergency Department, enables staff to access immediate and direct support for our most vulnerable patients, specific to their individual needs. The Health Young Person Independent Domestic Violence Advisor (YP IDVA) The YP IDVA supports patients who have presented to the Emergency Department, who are between 11 -17 years old who have: Experienced Domestic / Relationship Violence (Intimate / Familial); Witnessed Domestic Violence within the Household; Experienced Honour Based Violence; Been a Victim of Sexual Violence; Shown Signs of Sexual Exploitation. The specialist service can offer safety planning, safeguarding advice from the safeguarding nurse advisors, referrals to community domestic and sexual violence services, healthy relationship advice, liaising with education and mental health services, target hardening measures and liaising with police and supporting through the criminal justice processes.
Our Minds Our Future (OMOF) is a transformative project empowering young people to shape the landscape of mental health services across the UK. In Wales, delivered by ProMo Cymru and Adferiad Recovery, OMOF champions the voices of young advocates to bring about meaningful changes in mental health policies and practices. With a surge in concerns about young people’s mental health, OMOF’s Call To Action document, cocreated with Welsh young advocates in 2021, outlines five demands crucial for enhancing emotional well-being. These demands are: 1. We want a centralised approach for 16–25 year olds to find and access centralised support 2. We want to see services working well together to help us by using a holistic approach 3. We want to access face-to-face and online settings that are safe, welcoming, and respectful
The role is to deliver specialist advocacy and high-quality support, to those highest at risk of domestic, relationship abuse and sexual violence, helping young people to be safe from harm and develop their understanding of healthy relationships. Violence Prevention Team (VPT) The NHS Violence Prevention team, funded by the Wales Violence Prevention Unit, provides support, advice and guidance to patients of any age and gender who have sustained injuries associated with non-domestic related violence or are at risk of exploitation. The VPT’s work involves a range of support options tailored to suit the needs of the individual, from initiating referrals to specialist services in the community, to supporting patients in reconnecting with family members. The team aims to assist patients to move away from lifestyles encased in violence by working in partnership with Health Partners, Social Services, Police and not-for-profit organisations.
4. We want influencers and decision-makers to listen to us, hear our voice and be accountable to us 5. We want to see a minister with a portfolio for children and young people up to the age of 25
Frequent Attenders
Over the last four years, Welsh OMOF young advocates have actively campaigned for their demands, engaging with influencers and decision-makers through letters, workshops, roundtables, and an online conference. The conference, held on 8th June 2023, addressed inpatient care, social media’s role in mental health, and the NEST framework for early intervention. Professionals from diverse sectors praised the event for its impact and the authentic voices of the young OMOF advocates, who clearly understood their rights.
The Frequent Attenders service for Cardiff and Vale UHB supports all patients: paediatric and adult, who frequently use emergency or unscheduled care.
While policy changes take time, OMOF (Wales) successfully connects young people with influencers, leaving a lasting impression on stakeholders. OMOF young advocates not only contribute to policy discussions but also experience personal growth and improved mental health whilst being part of the project and afterwards. OMOF emphasises a rights-based approach, aligning with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Relevant articles include the rights to express views (Article 12), to information (Article 13), to freedom of thought (Article 14), to special care and support if you have a disability (Article 23), to good quality health services (Article 24), and education (Article 28). In Wales, a dedicated law mandates the consideration of the UNCRC in governmental decisions. Our Minds Our Future Wales is not just a project; it’s a movement shaping a Wales where children and young people’s rights are acknowledged and actively prioritised in mental health services. With a firm foundation in UNCRC, a dedicated law, and the Children’s Commissioner’s framework, OMOF Wales paves the way for a brighter and more rights-centred future for the youth of Wales.
The service utilises a multi-agency approach with Health, WAST, South Wales Police and OOH GP’s to identify this vulnerable cohort of patients. Monthly panels and individual MDT’s are held to facilitate discussions amongst professionals and services to establish how to better support a patient. The service can create management plans where necessary to provide continuity of care across service divisions. If you wish to find out more about this work, please email Nicola Hadley, Young Person Independent Domestic Violence Advisor, Emergency Department, Cardiff & Vale UHB: nicola.hadley@wales.nhs.uk
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Researching participative rights in younger children’s education: Policy, practice and children’s experiences Louisa M Roberts & Dr Sarah Chicken, University of the West of England Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, researchers at four universities* are collaborating over a three-year period to consider how current legislation, policy, and teacher education support the enactment of children’s participative rights within schools for five to seven year-old children in Wales. We are also working directly with children, teachers, teacher educators and student teachers to consider their understandings and experiences of children’s participative rights. The implementation of the Curriculum for Wales (2021) represents a time of unprecedented change for Welsh education. Our analysis of legislation and Welsh education policy over the last 20 years shows that the Welsh Government’s commitment to the UNCRC has been maintained through practice-facing curriculum guidance despite inconsistencies around children’s participative rights in the formal policy documentation. The Curriculum for Wales (2021) builds on this commitment by allowing schools flexibility and ownership of their curriculum development, whilst also stipulating that curriculum development must be underpinned by the United Nations framework of Human Rights Education (2011). This means schools must now ensure their curriculum reflects all three elements of the framework, and includes education
about, through and for human rights. This is a progressive stance and places Wales more at the forefront of children’s rights education. However, the way in which education policy translates into practice and shapes children’s lived experiences is complex. Our project looks at some of the critical points in that policy implementation journey, including: * Initial Teacher Education (ITE) provision and Continuing Professional Learning and Development (CPLD) opportunities for teachers and educators * In-service teachers’ understandings of children’s participative rights and how they can be supported in their classrooms * Young children’s understandings of their rights and their experiences of participation Our survey of ITE programmes in Wales suggests an inconsistent picture, with only two of the nine programmes included in the survey having children’s rights explicitly included in programme aims and learning outcomes. However, on a modular level twenty-four modules were seen to include children’s participative, within which there is a focus on knowledge of the UNCRC and pedagogical practices that support children’s participative rights. The current phase of our project involves collaborating with teachers of children aged 3-7 years in nursery to year two classes in English and Welsh medium schools across Wales. Through creative and innovative workshops, the teachers are exploring understandings of children’s
participative rights, and surfacing the barriers and enablers which might exist to these rights being enacted in classroom practice. Reggio Emilia pedagogy is being used to provoke reflections on how children’s participative rights can exist in Welsh classrooms. In the next exciting stage of the research, the teachers will carry out classroom projects to explore both children’s understandings of their participative rights, and the pedagogical approaches that might support the enactment of these participative rights. The teachers will be sharing their projects with each other and through our networks. Most importantly, our research team will be engaging with the children directly to hear their thoughts and feelings about the projects they are involved with. In this way the views of the young children themselves can be foregrounded in our research findings and can be fed-back to policy-makers and educators across Wales. Our Children’s Advisory Board (CAB) reflects a child rights-based Lundy model of research participation (Lundy, 2007) and is helping to orientate data generation with the children. Children’s voices are being explored and amplified through multiple media and we are ensuring that the audiences we disseminate our findings to have the necessary influence to improve the enactment of young children’s participative rights in classrooms in Wales. We will ensure we are addressing issues with the CAB that we are able to act upon, and we will provide clear feedback through a ‘you said and we responded’ model.
Our final phase of the project takes forward the experiences of all of the teacher and child participants to explore how teacher educators can support new teachers to develop participative pedagogies. The aim is to identify enablers and barriers in initial teacher education so that teachers entering the profession support the enactment of young children’s participative rights from the very start of their careers.
Throughout our research we will be sharing findings, reflections, ideas and relevant resources through many different channels including our website, X-Twitter, and Instagram. Anyone interested in staying up to date or getting involved with our project can also join our Community of Practice Network. Thanks also go to our academic and Professional Advisory Group who are critical friends to the project and continue to give us the benefit of their time, knowledge and expertise.
We aim to share our work as widely as possible with policy-makers and education practitioners so that the participative rights of the youngest primary school children in Wales can be fully and meaningfully realised.
For more information visit: childrens-participation.org or email child.participation@uwe.ac.uk
*University of the West of England, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University and University of Wales Trinity Saint David
References Lundy, L., 2007. ‘Voice’is not enough: conceptualising Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. British educational research journal, 33(6), pp.927-942.
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Future of National Lottery funding for children in Wales Flow Mascord & Jess Hey, National Lottery Community Fund The National Lottery Community Fund is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. In 2023 we distributed £35 million raised by National Lottery players to over 850 projects across Wales. We have conducted internal research to help us better understand where our future efforts and grant giving should be focused. Here, we share what we have learned about children and young people in Wales. Our funding
Children’s rights
Between 2022 and 2023, nearly a quarter of grants given in Wales supported projects benefitting children and young people. Awards are made through our main grant programmes, ‘National Lottery Awards for All’ and ‘People and Places’. These allow community groups and charities to apply for grants based on their needs. Awards are also made through programmes designed to address a particular issue. In 2022 we awarded nine Mind our Future grants worth £10.8 million in response to increasing numbers of young people reporting poor mental health. The grants empower young people to co-create and implement solution-focused approaches for a more resilient and mentally healthy future.
The rights of children and young people in Wales are enshrined in law. The ‘Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011’ commits Welsh policy to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), while the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 considers the children of tomorrow. Even so, it is clear that not all children and young people have the same opportunities to develop and prosper. It is important to consider intersectionality. For example, children from ethnic minoritised families, those who have a disability, or are from a family with a disability, are statistically more likely to live in poverty. As a result, they are also more likely to be negatively affected by COVID-19, the cost of living crisis, and the nature and climate emergencies. We are increasingly concerned about the adverse impact these events have on children and young people’s development and circumstances, particularly those experiencing multiple disadvantages.
In January 2024 we also launched ‘Sustainable Steps Wales Green Careers’ using Dormant Asset Scheme funding (money left untouched in bank accounts which is reallocated to good causes). The programme encourages young people with disabilities and/or young people from ethnically minoritised communities to develop confidence, skills, and work experience. The programme’s ambition is to encourage young people into green careers, improving diversity in the sector, and responding to the climate emergency. Ongoing challenges While we are proud of our work supporting children and young people in Wales, our research has highlighted ongoing challenges affecting them. These challenges include: a lack of affordable childcare or accessible early educational activities, increasingly poor mental health, ongoing bullying and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), as well as a lack of accessible safe spaces, play and leisure opportunities. Concerns are also increasing about future employment prospects and the nature and climate emergencies. Across our research, the impact of poverty stands out. As of March 2022, 34% of children and young people in Wales lived in poverty. Poverty is a key social factor that can amplify the challenges they already face.
Going forward The review of our future funding in Wales is being developed in tandem with the launch of our UK wide strategy ‘It starts with Community’ (2023-2030). This strategy sets our focus and efforts on four community-led missions: 1. Communities are healthier 2. Ccommunities come together 3. Communities are environmentally sustainable and
Placing children’s rights at the forefront of the Criminal Justice System Abigail Scounding, Ynys Saff, Cardiff & Vale UHB Professional advocacy for victims of sexual violence in Wales emerged in the early 2000s as part of an effort to improve support services. As Children and Young People’s Independent Sexual Violence Advocates (ISVA), this remains the pivotal aspect of our goal to place children’s rights at the forefront of the criminal justice system. Placing the control back in the hands of young survivors of sexual violence is the key to increasing engagement and a sense of empowerment in a time period where arguably, that sense of control has been diminished. The Cardiff Royal Infirmary is home to Ynys Saff, a Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), which has been referred to as a ‘one-stop-shop’ of multiagency support for those who have been affected by sexual violence across Cardiff and the Vale since 2008. We are fortunate to have a team of Children and Young People’s Independent Sexual Violence Advocates (ISVA) who provide dedicated and individualised support and guidance to sexual violence survivors, and ensure that not only are their rights advocated for, but that they actually understand what these rights are from the very beginning of the process.
4. Communities help children and young people thrive While our funding remains available to all communities, across all our work and four missions, we invest most in places, people and communities who experience poverty, disadvantage, and discrimination. During 2024 we’ll further roll out our new strategy – with more to come in the months ahead on how we intended to increase our funding where need is greatest and children will be a key focus for us.
Since July 2023, ISVAs at Ynys Saff have supported the development and been an integral part of the transformational change program Operation Soteria, which saw 43 police forces across England and Wales transforming their approach to investigating rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO). The National Operating Model, which has been
developed through the Operation Soteria programme has already seen positive impacts in South Wales. Operation Soteria, along with extensive research have highlighted the profound lack of victim confidence in the criminal justice system’s handling of cases of rape and sexual assault and their voices being heard. Research has drawn attention to the important role of the ISVA in drawing attention to adolescent sexual abuse not always taken “sufficiently seriously” by criminal justice personnel. We are a service- as recognised by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)- that is considered an integral victim advocate to reduce the risk of victim withdrawal and assist young victims in giving their best evidence, making it an important aim of the CPS to improve collaboration with ISVAs. Ynys Saff considers it vital to provide an accessible referral pathway for children and young people, with 2009 data showing that 84% of overall clients being referred into the service were young, with 24% being aged 12 or younger (Robinson, A.L. et al (2009). Ynys Saff was the first SARC designed from the outset to provide services to victims of all ages, arguably paving the way for providing the best support and advocacy for children and young people. It has been highlighted the important work that Ynys Saff has done, and continues to do in 2024 in creating a sexual violence service for young people and children, where clients and their parents have reported the difficulty in accessing support elsewhere during their engagement with the criminal justice system. ISVAs at Ynys Saff spend the entirety of the criminal justice process building trust and rapport with their clients, and with Op Soteria’s success in encouraging the
CPS to improve collaboration with ISVAs, has meant that we have been able to help in addressing the challenges that children and young people face in having their voices heard in this process, and advocating for special measures to be granted to our young survivors to make it as easy as possible for them to give their best possible evidence in court. Work has also been done to ensure that our young survivors are able to meet the prosecution team before a trial, and hear any questions raised directly by the young survivor. By building a close professional relationship with our survivors whose trust has been broken, they place confidence in us at Ynys Saff to advocate for their rights throughout an incredibly difficult time in their young lives. Our work does not come without challenges, and we still have substantial work to ensure a secured future of children and young people’s rights being recognised within the criminal justice system Children and young people have a statutory entitlement to have their report thoroughly investigated, with a multiagency approach to the same aims and objectives: placing children’s rights and voices at the forefront of the criminal justice system. By recognizing and responding to these emerging challenges, Ynys Saff demonstrates its commitment to safeguarding children’s rights in an everchanging landscape. To find out more about The Cardiff SARC and help we provide to survivors of sexual violence, please refer to our website.
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WINTER 2023 | 21
Hear My Voice
Project Unity: You can “Trust us to Care”
Nicole Lovatt, Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs
Dominique Drummond, NYAS Cymru
The United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) Article 4 tells us that the Welsh Government must ensure that every child can enjoy their 42 fundamental rights. Some adults still see children as those ‘who should be seen and not heard’, however Article 12 challenges this mind-set as Children have an absolute Right to a voice; to their own opinion and to be listened to. We must promote and support Rights through advocacy, challenge negative attitudes and discrimination! One of the greatest challenges is a lack of awareness or knowledge of Children’s Rights among adults within Education, Play & Childcare workforce and parents. he Welsh Government states that it leads the way in promoting children's rights and, over the past 30 years, there have been significant changes and improvements across Wales that benefit children and young people.
On 26 October 2023, NYAS Cymru launched our ‘Trust Us to Care’ campaign as NYAS’ flagship 2023 campaign at the Senedd as part of NYAS Cymru’s ‘Together in Unity ‘Event. NYAS Cymru published our research report entitled “Trust us to Care” that included what care-experienced young mothers said about their experiences interacting with social services when their children are subject to child protection proceedings. Key statistics from the report show that; only one in three young women were told how social services found out that they were pregnant and that three in five young women believed that social services did not want to give them the chance to keep their child, because of their history of being in care themselves. While these statistics may seem shocking, the workers at Project Unity have been working directly with young mothers and most recently fathers, often directly in their homes and the communities they live in, to help them develop skills to beat the stigma that comes with being a care experienced young parent.
One way this challenge could be overcome is by supporting those who embark on a career working with children aged 0-18 (Play, Childcare, educational professionals) by raising awareness of the UNCRC through mandatory training sessions gaining and developing an understanding and importantly, confidence in supporting children in settings to enjoy and understand their Rights. Through the Welsh Government working with the education and childcare workforce training providers, they could include a module on the UNCRC within the syllabus. Making this a mandatory element for volunteers and community groups will ensure that everyone working with children are aware and confident supporting and promoting the UNCRC and effectively implementing Children’s Rights throughout schools and Out of School Childcare Clubs. There are still some historic challenges to promoting these and a number of barriers that need to be addressed before we can successfully ensure Children’s Rights are embedded into practice for ALL children in Wales. At Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs, we are Champions of Children’s Rights and challenge archaic attitudes, while continuously promoting, raising awareness and supporting understanding through our training courses; we have published a series of relevant ‘UNCRC Article’ information and support guides for children & Playworkers; we spread the word through our social media sites, our weekly/monthly emails and YBont - our quarterly magazine. We work with hundreds of settings and Playworkers around Wales, getting them to see the importance of children enjoying and understanding their Rights; and we support & encourage Play and Childcare workers to recognise the benefits to children’s confidence, holistic development and emotional well-being. Having an equitable approach will ensure that children are welcomed and accepted for who they are; children should be afforded the same advantages and opportunities to ensure inclusion, removing barriers that disable children; and schools and settings must challenge discrimination and promote different cultures. Approaches and attitudes can be improved with equality and inclusion training. We inform people that Children’s Rights are written into Welsh Government legislation through training and development roles within Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs’. As adults we are legally and morally obligated to ensure that we listen to children; that they have a voice and a choice; are protected and safeguarded; and efficiently provided for. The impact of our training and advocacy has seen increased interest from individual workers and settings wanting to develop and improve. By developing quality practice through child participation resources and enabling Playworkers to listen, observe and understand the children, they provide care and play opportunities within Out of School Clubs. We inform people that Children’s Rights are written into Welsh Government legislation through training and development roles within Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs’. As adults we are legally and morally obligated to ensure that we listen to children; that they have a voice and a choice; are protected and safeguarded; and efficiently provided for. The impact of our training and advocacy has seen increased interest from individual workers and settings wanting to develop and improve. By developing quality practice through child participation resources and enabling Playworkers to listen, observe and understand the children, they provide care and play opportunities within Out of School Clubs. If you would like to learn more about the work of Clybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs, please visit the website.
“Project Unity helped me to get to the place where I could be the best mum I could be, as well as giving me the support to build my self-esteem and confidence in dealing with different statutory services.” Quote from a young mum being supported by the project.
Project Unity offers holistic, whole person support, to young parents that often feel forgotten by the system. As well as tailored parent advocacy and support, Project Unity also facilitates workshops and wellbeing events for the young parents and their children. Recent workshops have focused on planning and organising day trips while on a budget, to help the young parents learn skills that can be used to help create special family moments and memories, without breaking their banks, and cooking on a budget workshop. NYAS Cymru is a children’s rights charity and it would be out of the ordinary if we didn’t encourage the young parents to advocate for themselves, and others in situations like their own. Project Unity has also been working in partnership with CASCADE at Cardiff University, as well as the research department at Manchester Met to gather the views and feelings of care experienced young parents, in a bid to inform research used to aid the next generation leaving care, and hopefully influence legislation. This foundation of advocacy is what has given birth to the Trust us to Care campaign, as we saw a gap in the support provided for these young people and decided something had to be done about it. The campaign has laid out recommendations to the Welsh Government in a hope of changing the lives of care experienced parents for generations to come. The recommendations include: • Publish annual data on young woman in care and care experienced young woman’s interaction with child protection proceedings because of their child • Make the role of the corporate parent mandatory beyond children’s services • Guarantee that an “active offer” of support from project unity takes place as soon as the pregnancy is noted • Conduct a review of the proceedings in place for when a child (born or unborn) is subject to child protection proceedings These recommendations came from our direct work with young women and families and allow for full transparency in a process that is often confusing and daunting for care experienced young people. The Trust us to Care campaign is led by young women for young women and together we want to achieve a partnership approach with the sector to create sustainable and systemic change for young people. For further information on Project Unity, please visit our website.
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Article 12 in Action – How Power Up is Amplifying Youth Voice Natalie Coombs, Platfform
Power Up is an exciting new young people’s wellbeing project led by Platfform, a mental health and social change charity based in South Wales. We work with young people aged 10-25 in Cardiff and The Vale of Glamorgan experiencing challenges to their mental health, working in a way that is trauma informed, relational, with a strong focus on children’s rights. We work alongside nine partners on the project, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Cardiff Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council, Llamau, ProMo Cymru, EYST Wales, iBme, YMCA Cardiff, and together we are committed to amplifying youth voice in all of the work we do. Power Up is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund’s Mind Our Future grant, which aims to create more mentally healthy futures for young people in their communities. What makes the grant particularly exciting, however, is that all their funded projects were given a whole year to develop their projects alongside young people. The idea being, that the project would be entirely coproduced with young people to create wellbeing projects that are what young people really need. During our development year, it was really important to us that young people were truly put in the lead in developing Power Up. One of the key ways we ensured this was by implementing a project advisory group. The group, made up of young people aged 10-25, are the real bosses of the project! All major decisions that need to made for the project are signed off by them, and they help shape the general direction of the project by telling us what they like and don’t like, what is important to them, and bringing us ideas to discuss. Their honesty, enthusiasm, and commitment to improving mental health outcomes in their community has been instrumental in the success of developing the project and, as such, it is important to us that the group feel appreciated for their hard work, so they are paid for their time at each meeting and also are invited to the Power up residential, an annual weekend retreat to celebrate the group’s work and achievements. Alongside the work of our advisory group, we also spoke to over 750 young people across Cardiff and The Vale about what they wanted from a new mental health service, visiting schools, colleges, universities, and community groups to help us explore young people’s wellbeing across the region. When aiming to gather as many young voices as possible, we were proactive in ensuring that the voices were from all different backgrounds, cultures, and identities, so we worked closely with our partners to reach out to specific groups if young people that are often underrepresented such as young people from ethnic minorities, young carers, and young people with disabilities. Reflecting on the project so far, we have been able to identify the challenges facing children’s rights currently, particularly around expressing their views and having those views considered. We have been committed to addressing these challenges through the project so far, and will continue to address these as we move into
our delivery phase. Not enough time to co-produce meaningfully We are seeing increasingly short-term funding within the charity sector, which causes a range of challenges. One of these challenges is not having appropriate time to co-produce services with young people, and work alongside them to develop services that best serve young people’s current needs. We believe that, like the Mind our Future grant, more funding grants should include a development period to allow services to carry out engagement work with the young people that will use the service so their ideas can be considered during the design and development of new services. Unpaid participation Young people should be fairly compensated for their work, and this includes any engagement and co-production activity that supports organisations. By paying young people for their time, they feel appreciated and that their opinions and ideas are actually being taken seriously. ‘Hard to reach’ There is still a myth that exists that certain groups of young people are ‘hard to reach’, and therefore their voices go unheard. The perpetuation of this idea is doing a disservice to children’s rights, and organisations need to be more proactive in becoming ‘easy to access’ and finding new ways to engage with underrepresented young people. If you would like to chat more about Power Up and what we have learned about supporting children’s right to express their views, we would love to speak to you! Please contact us at powerup@ platfform.org
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