I am a natural optimist: but as a social scientist I am committed to collecting and using evidence, so in the current climate how do I rationalise my optimism?
Public services are not known for being agile, but the pandemic has seen councils “pivot” to provide support online, redeploy staff where the demand is greatest and work across departments to meet a range of families’ needs.
Child bereavement is an aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic that could get lost amidst the day-to-day struggle against the virus that continues to dominate our lives.
This April would have been the 25th anniversary of the opening of Medway Secure Training Centre (STC). Like most, if not all, secure establishments it had a rocky start but represented the beginning of a major reform in youth justice. As we await the birth of the new secure school on the site of the original STC it is worth reflecting on the past 25 years.
The £1.7bn “catch-up” programme for pupils has recently started to have an impact: more than 100,000 children have received additional support since last autumn and the government has appointed Education Endowment Foundation chief Sir Kevan Collins to oversee the scheme.
As we emerge from the wreckage wrought by the pandemic, there is a strong need to rebuild the economy so that it supports young people to get their lives back on track.
“Justice delayed is justice denied” may seem an easy soundbite, but it is in fact an important element of our criminal justice system that for many years as a magistrate I was obliged to consider when reaching decisions in court.
A parliamentary question from Emma Lewell-Buck MP has very helpfully flushed out and given clarity that the Children’s Social Care Review is a review being individually undertaken by Josh MacAlister.
Anne Longfield signed off her six-year stint as children’s commissioner for England with a scathing attack on the Treasury’s lack of understanding of children.
No one really knows the long-term impact and implications this lockdown and pandemic will have on young people in the weeks, months and years to come. These uncertain circumstances are affecting them right here and right now.
The nation’s mental health and wellbeing has been discussed at great length over the past few months and attention has recently been drawn to the mental health of babies and infants by a report commissioned by the First 1,001 Days Movement.
The latest Covid-19 arrangements will have long-term impacts on many of our most vulnerable children, not least those who have entered the care system during the last year.
Managing an early years and childcare setting, whether it be a home-based childminder, out of school club, a small voluntary playgroup, a nursery or a chain, a school or children’s centre, is a complex task. It is one of balancing quality, health and safety, with parents’ and children’s needs, funding and fees, and business sustainability.