Children’s Commissioner publishes ‘Big Ambition for Families’
The Children’s Commissioner has published her ‘Big Ambition for Families’ as part of the wider ‘Big Ambition’ Consultation exercise.
In her own words:
“Family is central to all of our lives, particularly children. The concept of family comes in many forms. For nearly every child we’ve spoken to it includes people outside of our traditional ‘immediate family’. This is an important distinction – because it isn’t how a family is made up that makes the biggest difference, it’s the way it supports all of its members.
As Children’s Commissioner, family is a core pillar of my work. My Family Review established that all families tend to want the same key things: to get along and love one another, to be able to support themselves and each other, to spend quality time together, and to be able to trust and rely on each other.
The Big Ambition results show that most children and parents feel their families can do all those things: provide for their members, enjoy their time together and give children the stable and loving start they need.
Most – but certainly not all. When families are living in poverty and experiencing extreme financial hardship, and without the time to enjoy being a family, small changes can grow into insurmountable problems.
The biggest change in how children talk about their families since I became Commissioner in 2021 seems to be that they are no longer protected from the issues and stresses previously labelled ‘adult problems’. Responses to The Big Ambition revealed children are not immune to the things weighing on their parents and carers’ minds, with many children talking about the impact of the cost of living, uncertainty for the future and the important role families play in providing stability in life …”
The Children’s Commissioner has set out ‘five over-arching outcomes’, namely that children are, “safe, healthy, happy, learning and engaged in their community”. Building on this the Commissioner set out three ambitions in this context, namely that:
- Every child grows up in a family who has what they need to support them and no child grows up in poverty.
- Every child grows up in a loving and supportive family.
- Every child has access to high quality support in the early years
You can read the Child Commissioner’s recent blog and a link to the full report here: The Big Ambition for Families | Children’s Commissioner for England (childrenscommissioner.gov.uk)
Author Name: Editor
Published content by The Divorce Surgery Editorial Team.
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