Children are on a burning platform – and we need to adapt to change their future

For most of us, it’s a time of wondering what new opportunities the next 12 months will bring. But for far too many children and families in the UK, the year ahead has a bleak outlook.

When I think back to when I started working for Barnardo’s 15 years ago, I’m astounded by how much the world has changed. In the Covid-19 pandemic, today’s children lived through the worst crisis since the Second World War and, hot on its heels, the cost of living soared.

In November, the UN warned that the UK was in violation of international law due to the number of families living in poverty. Over the years, I’ve often stood in a family’s cold kitchen and witnessed clothes piled up because they can’t afford to put the washing machine on, or been offered a cup of tea without milk because there’s nothing in the fridge. This is what we’re now seeing up and down the country in many of the homes we work in, every single day.

Since 1985, the average height of five-year-olds in the UK has slipped 30 places – due, in part, to poor diet and living standards. Rising numbers of children are struggling with poor mental health, unable to access the support they need from a health system struggling under the weight of demand. Waiting lists are soaring while children reach crisis point.

Meanwhile, the harms facing children are growing and changing, as young people spend more time online and regulation struggles to keep pace with emerging threats like AI.  

The compound impact of the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis have exposed – and increased – the inequalities in our society. Many children face even greater hardships in life, simply due to where they come from, structural inequalities or a cycle of disadvantage which is difficult to break.

Against this backdrop, years of underfunding have left core services increasingly unable to cope with rising levels of need for support, with too many families missing out on help, and more and more children going into care. Review after review point to the systemic challenges we need to address.

At Barnardo’s, we recognise that children are on a burning platform. We intend to adapt to respond to this. And the time is now.

This year, Barnardo’s will launch a three-year strategy to help us meet the changing needs of children and young people. Developed alongside children, young people, colleagues, volunteers and supporters, our new strategy will also bring some updates to the way the charity looks, sounds and feels to make sure children and young people know who we are, how we can help, and can continue to trust us to be there for them.

We hope this will help us inspire a new generation of supporters who share our commitment to changing childhoods and changing lives – there is so much need and we know we can go so much further in meeting it if we go together.  

Put simply, we will focus our energy where we can make the biggest difference.

As a starting point, we’re committing to a three-year investment in direct help for the families we support who are living in poverty – so they can afford food, heating, clothes and the essentials that so many of us take for granted.

And we’ll be working with partners to drive change for populations of children who need the most help - so that decisions made at local and national levels are in the best interests of this, and the next generation, supporting change not just for those we work with, but for all children in need of support.

The world has changed beyond recognition since Barnardo’s started in Victorian London – and in that time children’s needs have changed too. It’s imperative that, as a charity, we continue to adapt, to remain relevant and responsive to these new challenges, whilst continuing to provide children with a place where they belong, where change is possible. In 2024, that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

Lynn Perry is chief executive at Barnardo’s