March 2010

This month's blog includes updates and information on:

Child Poverty Strategy
Toolkit Launch
Observatory Reports
Visiting Loxley Hall School
Consultation at GOWM on Families and Relationships Green Paper

Child Poverty Strategy logo

I am a member of the Child Poverty Strategy writing group and we met for the first time this month to look at our priorities.

The Child Poverty Act, which commits future governments to eradicating child poverty by 2020, has received Royal Assent.

The Act establishes a national and local accountability framework for delivering this goal. The Government will be required to produce child poverty strategies that run through to 2020 and are refreshed every three years. The Act also provides a clear definition of the eradication of child poverty by 2020, setting four UK-wide targets based on the proportion of children living in: relative low income, combined income and material deprivation, absolute low income and persistent poverty. It also requires that these targets continue to be met after 2020.

Parent and Carer Engagement Toolkit Launch logo

This month, after quite a short but fast paced journey of focus groups, writing and piloting, we launched the Parent and Carer Engagement Toolkit, the event took place at Yarnfield with well over 150 invited guests which included County Councillors, Children's Trust Partners, Managers, Practitioners and Parents.

The event was hosted by a parent - Machita Denny, with other parents taking part as guest speakers who gave us their very different experiences of being 'Engaged' by services and who supported us with the facilitation on the day.

The main focus of the day was how to use the Toolkit with parents taking the lead on the activities around the room. logo

For those of you who where unable to attend the event and wonder what it is; log on to the website and take a look, navigate round the site and even have a stab at the self assessment the address is www.parentandcarerengagement.org.uk.

Staffordshire Observatory Reports

Through the 'Your View Counts' questionnaire, we have collected the views of parents and carers so that we can develop and improve our service practice and delivery, we have joined forces with our colleagues from the Staffordshire Observatory to pull together this report which presents the findings of a number of pieces of consultation and research work carried out to gain a deeper insight into the views and opinions of parents and carers.

This report will be updated on a quarterly basis to ensure current regular and responsive feedback on children, young people and families services.

LOGO

The report will be going live on the Commissioner for Parents webpage: /commissionerparents soon.

Loxley Hall School

I was recently invited by the Headteacher of Loxley Hall School to speak to parents, gaining their views around the support they receive around their child's behaviour, not only from the school but services in general.

Consultation at GOWM on Families and Relationships Green Paper

I was invited by the Government Office for the West Midlands to a Consultation event on Support for All: The Families and Relationships Green Paper.

They were particularly keen to hear the views from a wide range of stakeholders such as Health, Youth Offending Teams, Job Centre Plus, Local Authorities and Voluntary/Third sector organisations. The event offered professionals an opportunity to input into a very important policy area.

The consultation event focused on 4 of the 6 questions outlined in the green paper:

1. What more can Government do to help create a culture in which seeking help for relationship or parenting problems, or other family difficulties, is considered socially acceptable?

2. Which issues should be prioritised by Government in seeking to strengthen families and support family relationships in this country?

3. Which services need the most urgent development to make them truly family-friendly?

6. Would a comprehensive advice service on family issues based on the successful models like NHS Direct and the NHS Carers Direct services make it easier for families to find the help they need? This could consist of a national online service coupled with a single telephone number.

This is an opportunity for you to network with key people both within your local area and across the region. We have allocated up to 4 places per Local Authority area and suggest you link up and co-ordinate attendance at a local level.

We were also asked to consult on 2 additional questions that we feel should be considered from a regional point of view:

1. What implications does the green paper have on your service or services in the West Midlands?

2. How should information services respond and reshape their services to meet the green papers aims?

The full green paper can be accessed via the following link:

www.dcsf.gov.uk/supportforall

Last Modified: 24/05/2010 08:43:44
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