Kelly Adams’ Post

'Early help' supports children and families as soon as problems emerge and can prevent children from coming to harm. Working together with @Ofstednews and @HMICFRS, we have developed a report that shows how services can work together to support the children and families who need help. Watch this video to see some of the key findings from the work

Today, we remember the children who never came home. Today, we acknowledge the survivors of residential schools and their families. Today, we reflect on the roles we have in the reconciliation process, and how we can renew relationships with Indigenous communities. Learn more about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation: https://ow.ly/6YyJ50Tz03e

Interested in how early intervention can help support families? Read our latest feature story to find out how the Families Together programme in @ELCouncil is leading to real change for children, young people, and their families: buff.ly/4fcb9YL

As chair of the adult advisory panel, it is great to see this statement from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, regarding the deplorable violence, fascism and Islamophobia occurring across the UK. One of the first pieces of work done by Rocio as Commissioner was the ‘Take it Seriously’ report which looked at racism within Welsh secondary schools. Unsurprisingly, and yet sadly, the report found high rates of racism experienced by young people of colour. With 22 recommendations made to Welsh Government, there is still a long way to go to ensure schools and communities feel safe for everyone. Without funding and proper investment in education and youth services, racism and issues related to extremism will never be properly tackled. Organisations like Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team - EYST Wales and VIBE Youth CIC do outstanding work in Wales - but need the right funding to do the work. Let’s keep holding politicians and decision makers to account to invest properly in our communities. *Everyone* deserves to feel safe. Read the Take it Seriously report here: https://lnkd.in/eurYdJP5

https://lnkd.in/ebgkVqjy To all my connections-you can blame Dr Nicola Preston for my Sunday afternoon rant as she shared this video first, but I cannot stay quiet as we have got a big problem here. Tom Bennett, apparently in the position of ADVISING the DfE is telling us that the rise in the number of children that are being excluded from PRIMARY mainstream schools is ok, because ‘these children are SEMH’ and have ‘extreme behaviour.’ So, instead of recognising there is a systemic issue, this white, middle class, man of privilege is telling us that it is the children’s fault that they are being excluded, not the fact that our system is not fit for purpose. Let’s do that test I often do when talking about these issues: would Mr Bennett be openly making such statements if his statements were about excluding children from different ethnic backgrounds? Is this not a way of indirectly disadvantaging and marginalising families and children with a variety of personal protected characteristics by labelling unmet needs and different communication preferences as ‘extreme behaviours’? I will tell you a secret Mr Bennett. The problem lies with YOU and people like you being in ‘advising’ positions in an area you understand nothing about. It would be best to let people who are educated about this topic speak, with evidence. Time to let the families and children speak for themselves. Time for you to be quiet, listen and learn.

Want to know what we do at St.Mark. Community Education? Watch the video below.

Today is National Children’s Day UK which is all about the importance of a healthy childhood, and how we need to protect the rights and freedoms of children and young people. The campaign focusses on the rights and freedoms of children, which is one of themes that our programme facilitators promote when working with CYP’s through the different Calan programmes. Read more about these here https://bit.ly/3pySPj0

Great to see this resource 'Child’s Voice' get a refresh during National Reconciliation Week. It encourages the voices of Indigenous children to be heard. The Child’s Voice tools are based on the Kids Central Toolkit, developed by the Institute of Child Protection Studies at Australian Catholic University with VACCA - Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency. The Kids Central toolkit aims to help services place children in the centre of their work. It is a strengths-based resource that talks about why working with kids is important, gives messages from kids about how they might best be supported and provides a series of activities, games and tools. VACCA redeveloped five tools from the Kids Central toolkit specially for Aboriginal children and provided talking tips and guidance for the tools specially for Aboriginal children. The tools include: - I’m deadly: To find out a bit about the child and how they see themselves - their strengths & dreams - All about me: To find out a bit more about the child - their feelings and wishes - People in my life: To help kids identify who is important to them - My journey: To help kids remember things in their life - Getting from here to there: To find out about some of the things the child wants #reconciliation #safeguarding #childsafety

If you missed the recent webinar on the child welfare system that I moderated, here's the video:

Learn more about how you can help keep children safe🫶