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Ten years on

Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011

Ten years ago, a landmark report into the wide scale abuse that took place in the care system in north Wales was published. It was called Lost in Care, and included in its 72 recommendations was a call for the establishment of the UK’s first Children’s Commissioner for Wales; an independent champion to protect and promote the rights and welfare of children in Wales.

On 5 October 2011, I found myself standing as the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Office in the Senedd, surrounded by friends, colleagues and well-wishers.  I was stood next to His Honour Judge Nicholas Cooke QC, counsel for Clywch, the first inquiry of this Office led by my predecessor. He gave a powerful speech that not only paid tribute to the work of my predecessor, the late Peter Clarke, but provided an overview of the Office’s accomplishments so far. I couldn’t help but feel a huge sense of pride an honour of what we’ve achieved as an Office and as a country when it comes to realising children’s rights. I also felt a huge sense of duty to preserve what we’ve got and to drive for more change. 

Earlier in the day I invited 60 students from five secondary schools to join my celebrations. They gathered in Siambr Hywel, eager to have their voices heard and to engage in a question and answer session with Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones. Their questions ranged from, “Would you consider lowering the voting age to 16?” to “What’s the hardest thing about being the First Minister”. They also took part in an electronic vote in which 66% said that they believed that adults and decision makers were listening to them more now, than in previous years. But, only 37% felt that they were involved in decisions made in their schools, whilst a whopping 86% didn’t feel that they were involved in decisions made in their community.

The issues raised by this group of young people serves as an important reminder that there is still a lot to be done to improve the lives of children and young people in Wales. The 5 October marked not only the office’s tenth anniversary but also the day I launched my fourth annual report as the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. This was a key opportunity for me to highlight all the areas that concern me most about the current state of childhood in Wales, I like to see it as a state of the nation for practitioners and policy makers alike.

But turning aspiration into reality is the challenge for us in Wales. I have spoken in the past of the implementation gap and that still remains – but perhaps it’s worth us refocusing on what that means for the child.

What are the elements that lead to the inequality of outcomes and what are those inequality of outcomes? We need to meet them head on.

My key call from this year’s annual report was for the new Welsh Government and service providers across the board to take stock of how we deliver public services  to children and young people. We have gold-plated policies and strategies in Wales, but I’m yet to be convinced that they are strategies which work together and work on the ground to improve the lives of children. Too often I hear from children, young people and their families who are struggling to access help and support.

We need these strategies to focus on the practice and outcomes agenda by equipping the workforce appropriately. We also need to ensure we can hold service providers to account when the standards to which we should all aspire are not achieved.

The commitment and skills of professionals are clear for all to see, it’s just about harnessing those energies to enable every child in Wales to reach their full potential.

Here is a virtual copy of the Annual Report & Accounts:

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Pigeon attack at Us UnLtd’s latest project

Friday, September 30th, 2011

“What’s through here?” I asked. “Not sure” came the reply:  ”And I don’t know who’s got the torch but let’s have a look”. We stepped into the darkened space and three pigeons flew out at us.

It was like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock film. The pigeons escaped through a broken window – which is how they got there in the first place, no doubt. Several yelps later we were back downstairs with increasingly exaggerated tales of how we were nearly “savaged” by some irate pigeons.

I was visiting Us UnLtd inFlint. They are part of an initiative being driven forward by Llamau, a charity working to help a group of homeless young people take an entrepreneurial role in shaping their own future. UsUnLtd’s vision is to empower homeless young people in Flintshire. The young people developed a business plan for a shop, a centre to provide learning and skills training, a cafe and accommodation with an opportunity to acquire important life skills.

Pigeons aside, it is now a year on from the first time I met these young people and their shop is now open inFlint.

It is really great to catch up with the young people and see the amazing progress they have made. The shop sells a number of items but the t- shirt printing service is proving to be a bit of a winner.

I took the opportunity to order a bespoke t-shirt with designs of my choice. So the front has the Us UnLtd logo on it:

And on the back there is a birthday cake design to celebrate the Children’s Commissioner for Wales’ tenth birthday:

Pretty cool I’m sure you will agree. If you ever need any t-shirts printing then this is the business for you – all orders are welcome and all the profits are put back into the social enterprise to build up the capacity to support homeless young people in Flintshire.

So how did I end up getting attacked by pigeons? Well, I was visiting Us UnLtd’s next project, to convert a building across the road from the shop into a new centre to provide learning and training opportunities. Grant applications are in and fingers are crossed. It will take a lot of work to the bring building up to scratch but the potential is enormous and all of this is being driven forward by the creativity, vision and sheer hard work that Us UnLtd are putting in.

I have met some of the young people involved with this project a couple of times before and every now and again a message on Twitter will update me on their progress. All the young people involved have overcome some tough things in their lives. They all face continuing challenges as they build lives for themselves, setting up their own homes, finding work and going to college to gain qualifications, to name but three. On top of that they give their time to build the Us UnLtd social enterprise.

“We all want to build something that will help others who face the same things that we did.”

There are many people in this world who set out an ambition but not everyone has the determination to see it through. UsUnLtd are pretty determined and the progress they have made in the last 12 months is pretty amazing.

Next time you are inFlint pop in and see them. They are located on Church Street. I know they will be delighted to see you and they deserve all the support they can get.

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A Piece of Me

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Sometimes when we get drawn into debates about the importance of listening to the views of children and young people, we talk about children’s voices. Sometimes we take that rather too literally, as if it is only the spoken word in a meeting or discussion, or the written word on a returned questionnaire, that can give us those views.

When I left secondary school I did a fine art degree and I still believe paintings are the pinnacle of artistic expression. I can look at a painting by Whistler, Turner, Hockney or Banksy and I ‘hear’ their message, I see and feel their response to the world around them.

This was the case at the ‘A Piece of Me’ exhibition, held by Barnardos Cymru’s Seraf Service, an intensive support programme for children and young people aged 10 to 18 who are either at risk or have been abused through sexual exploitation. The project, funded by The Arts Council of Wales, is being shown in the The Pierhead Building inCardiff Bay. It includes film, art, animation, music, poetry and stories by young people who have received support from the Seraf Service.

I was really pleased to have the honour of opening the exhibition. Art encourages freedom of expression and this exhibition speaks to all who are up for listening and hearing. It is a brave thing to do and I hope that as many people as possible view the work on display.

 I would like to thank all the young people and staff at the Barnardo’s Cymru Seraf Service and also the Arts Council of Wales for funding such a worthwhile project.

The invitation described ‘A Piece of Me’ as:

 “A gritty exhibition which challenges our minds and perceptions through the eyes of young people’s experiences. It is impossible to leave the exhibition untouched.”

By any definition this is art and creative expression that gives voice to children and young people’s experiences. It is powerful and I would urge you to see it, either in the Bay or when it tours around Wales in the months ahead.

The whole show is very strong but three pieces in particular spoke to me:

 

This painting is being used as the poster for the exhibition. It shows a child crying on the inside.

This piece is called ‘Blood run cold’ and the caption underneath says: “There are nights when I wake and my blood runs cold remembering experiences I have had.”

This picture is called ‘The Mask’ and shows how you can put on a mask to hide your true feelings. You have to look beyond the mask.

As you tour around you can see children and young people expressing their anger and frustration through art. It is uncomfortable in places. But it concludes with hope, showing the resilience that children and young people have, to do more than to just survive, to achieve their full potential.

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Wales’s No 1 White Van Man

Friday, March 26th, 2010

Last week I went to the “Violence in Relationships” conference for young people in south Wales. It was organised by South Wales Police and involved around 250 14 to 17 year olds.

It was a very good day. Peter Vaughan, the Chief Constable, opened proceedings by reminding all the young people that being the victim in a violent relationship is completely unacceptable. During the day there were powerful and moving presentations including an inter active play by Geese Theatre Company, three powerful real life stories from young people and one from Pat, an adult who kept her audience enthralled with an emotional account of her own experience as a victim in a violent relationship.

During the day Melvyn and Tam from Funky Dragon ran some questions past the young people. Participants used hand held voting key pads to register their votes. One of the questions asked the young people if they had ever had friends who had been in an abusive relationship. 

I was shocked to see that 66% in the morning and 70% in the afternoon said that they did know someone in that position. Most people would agree that prevention is so much better than intervention after the event and the purpose of the conference was to raise awareness and to give young people the confidence to speak out if they find themselves in an abusive relationship.

In my short speech I congratulated the Police for organising such an important day. I spoke about children’s rights but was alarmed to see only 20 hands go up when I asked the young people if they knew about their rights. All too often I hear the argument that young people know all about their rights and nothing about their responsibilities. That is clearly not so.

Luckily, Jamie, Lucy, Mark and Robela were outside in our white Commissioner display van so I encouraged everyone to visit it and pick up information on the UNCRC and details on how they can contact me if they ever need to. Later that afternoon it was clear that they had heeded my advice, the frizbees with our contact details were flying about all over the place.

The day was compered with humor and skill by Kevin Johns. When I finished my talk he referred to me as “Wales’s number 1 white van man”. The cheek of it!

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