4Children manifesto calls for more family support
Joe Lepper
Friday, March 26, 2010
Expanding children's centres to cater for children of all ages and giving families a right to support from a family group conference are among a raft of policies being called for in 4Children's latest manifesto.
Released ahead of the forthcoming general election, the manifesto, called A Vote for Families and Children 2010, wants to see more Sure Start centres link up with schools and offer broader youth and social care support.
A spokeswoman for the charity said: "We already run centres that have this approach and it really benefits families to know they can go somewhere that caters for the needs of all their children, no matter what their age. It also helps children to be in an environment where they can mix with others of different ages."
Another proposed policy is to expand the use of family group conferencing. The charity says that families are already benefiting from the conferencing approach.
"However, we would like to see it more widely used and give families a right to this style of support," the spokeswoman added.
Other policies 4Children is calling on politicians to adopt include a firm plan on meeting the 2020 target of eradicating child poverty and reform of the tax credits system. The charity wants to see Working Tax Credits cover all childcare costs.
Go to cypnow.co.uk/doc to view the manifesto in full.
