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.