Together (Scottish Alliance for Children's Rights)’s Post

📢 Important Update: Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive The UK government has released a pivotal document titled "Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive." This comprehensive strategy outlines new measures aimed at improving the well-being of children and families across the country. The focus is on early intervention, stronger family support systems, and safeguarding children to ensure they grow up in safe, nurturing environments. By addressing root causes and providing tailored support, the initiative aims to prevent harm and empower families to thrive. This is more than a policy document—it’s a call to action for all of us working in education, social services, healthcare, and community support. Together, we can make these goals a reality and contribute to a society where every child feels safe and valued. I encourage everyone to review this document and think about how we can align our efforts with this vision. Collaboration is key to driving meaningful change. Let’s work together to build a brighter future for children and families. What are your thoughts?

Preventing institutionalisation of children: strengthening families and building community-based alternative care on Thursday 14 Nov from 9.30 to 12.30 (webinar) Although the EU highly encourages its Member States to focus on providing community-based alternative care, early intervention, preventative measures and family strengthening, there is little sharing of good practices or guidance available for them on what this should look like, and which measures, services and systems can contribute to this goal. https://buff.ly/3YuMRCs .

#ICYMI The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) released an RFI requesting public input on how ACF, in collaboration with the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, can better support interoperability between human services within and across states and local community resources, between states, and with ACF. It is critical for the public, ESPECIALLY state and county agencies that receive funding to support an array of human service programs (e.g., SNAP, WIC, NSLP, TANF, SSI, CTC, LIHEAP, CoC, ESG) to weigh in on using open health standards (aka USCDI and FHIR) to support interoperable data exchange between health and social service programs. With an annual budget of $88.2B for mandatory and discretionary appropriations, ACF is essential in supporting various programs that promote the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities. Please weigh in and share far and wide! 🙏 https://lnkd.in/eB8-8wuX

States are experiencing a paradigm shift in addressing noncustodial parents and child support arrears, transitioning from punitive measures to supportive strategies. They can now utilize federal funding to establish employment and training programs for noncustodial parents. By providing education and training, these programs equip fathers with the skills needed for stable, well-paying jobs, enabling them to meet their child support obligations. As they secure employment, they can transition to employer-sponsored health insurance, reducing reliance on Medicaid. Let’s connect! #accountablity #effectivness #efficency #costsavings #BPO #maximus

When looking at OnLAC well-being data for kids in care, I’m often asked about the lack of “improvement” over the years. Outcomes are flat, stagnant. “Why don’t we see a change?” The answer is quite simple, but the solutions are complex: In order to see a change in outcomes, we must make *meaningful* change to the system. We must be willing and able to evaluate the impact of changes made, namely the benefits and disbenefits experienced by youth and families. When necessary, we must adjust the path, even if we believed it was the right one.

I am incredibly proud of the work we do at the QFCC. I truly believe nothing is more important than the safety and wellbeing of Queensland’s children, and we will not stop in our efforts to make this a state where “every child is loved, respected and has their rights upheld.” In our Report on the performance of the Queensland child protection system, we outline many systemic insights – how do we compare to other states and territories, what is going well, what can be improved – and we will be drawing your attention to these in coming months as we continue in our efforts in affect positive change in Queensland for those who come into contact with the child protection and youth justice systems. Here are some key findings that stood out to me – some may surprise, others will not. 1. Housing stability is a big issue for families in Queensland. 2. Insufficient number of carer families means more young people are being placed in residential care. 3. Youth justice systems are not effectively rehabilitating offenders. 4. Rate of First Nations children who are developmentally on track to start school is improving. 5. There are six core issues that need to improve to help our child protection and family support is a collaborative and accountable system. Every year we publish our findings as part of our Annual Report. This is the first time we have published our insights in a standalone report. Read more about the performance of our child protection system here: https://lnkd.in/gEhjvr_f Queensland Family and Child Commission (QFCC)

As a scholar in this space, I would love to also see more support of birth mothers — affordable housing, accessible childcare, addiction and abuse counselling, culturally-appropriate parenting classes — so more families can stay together. Poverty should not be conflated with neglect. Plus, over 50 percent of the children & youth in care in Canada are Indigenous… yet they represent less than 8 percent of the respective population. In Ontario, there is an equally disproportionate amount of Black families in the system. We must do more to support families and eliminate systemic racism. For example, how many child welfare social workers are Indigenous or Black? I can tell you more than 85 percent of the social workers in Canada identify as white.

A bit of a summary of today's Save the Children UK's #LearningNetwork event which focused on the impact the pandemic has and continues to have on the youngest children, who are often missed out from the conversation. We launched the now externally available Early Years Knowledge Bank; specifically curated resources on how babies and young children were impacted by the pandemic (alongside other themes) https://t.co/15lC9mScDQ. Amy Brown spoke to how perinatal services were affected by the pandemic and how this continues to have an impact on parents, babies and young children. Megan Watson gave a whistle stop tour through the rich data of Public Health Scotland's CEYRIS study which clearly shows how the pandemic has hit already marginalised children hardest and that its impact is cumulative and ongoing. Katie Parsons from Loughborough University looked at changes to outdoor and nature access as a result of lockdowns and how this may be harnessed for positive change in the "slow pandemic" of the climate crisis. Louise King from Child's Rights Alliance for England/Just for Kids Law and Jenny Steele provided a child's rights perspective and how children's rights and interests were side lined during the pandemic, which the engagement with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry is trying to set right. You can watch this powerful film on why this matters: https://t.co/yYDl16Tt4J. You can also read this Save the Children report "What about the Children" which contributes to refreshing a child's rights perspective for now and the future, offering a child's perspective and giving children a voice: https://t.co/Jra5FhdmCq. A lot of resources and a long post - but I hope it's useful!

Public benefits can fill crucial gaps in access to resources for young people as they transition to adulthood. This new report summarizes promising ways to improve benefits access for youth, including targeted outreach, navigation support, partnerships across organizations, simplifying or expanding eligibility, and optimizing administrative processes, and provides next steps for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers. Read more from Amelia Coffey, Laura Wagner, Michelle Casas, and Heather Hahn: