Here you’ll find the blog and newsletters of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
Rocio Cifuentes became the Children’s Commissioner in April 2022.
August Newsletter
Commissioner’s response to HIW announcement on Hillview Mental Health Hospital This month Rocio responded to the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) announcement on Hillview Hospital has had its registration suspended. The full statement is available on our website. National Play day On the 2nd of August we celebrated National Play…
July Newsletter
Commissioner responds to free school meals announcement This month Rocio responded to the Welsh Government’s announcement that they will be reducing out-of-term free school meal provision and the schools essentials grant. In her response the Children’s Commissioner reflected that children and young people told us in our Ambitions for…
June Newsletter
Launching our Three Year Strategy Last month we published our new three-year-strategy, outlining what we’ll do over the next three years to protect and promote children’s rights in Wales. The strategy sets out our vision, our mission and our purpose to help make life better for children and young…
May Newsletter
Ysgol y Dderwen May has been a month full of fantastic school visits by Rocio and members of our Participation Team. It has been great to see how different schools incorporate rights learning both in their classrooms and their outdoor areas. A visit to Ysgol y Dderwen in Carmarthen…
April Newsletter
Community Ambassadors At the end of March, Rocio was really pleased to host her first North Wales Community Ambassadors event. The event brought groups together from across North Wales to meet the Children’s Commissioner for Wales, to learn more about children’s rights and share their thoughts and feelings about…
March Newsletter
A No Wrong Door to Neurodiversity: a book of experiences This month saw the culmination of work we’ve been doing with children and their families who are looking for help and support with neurodevelopmental conditions and undiagnosed neurodivergence. Included in our book are experiences of children and their families,…
February Newsletter
UN 94th Session on Human Rights This month Rocio attended the 94th pre-session at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Switzerland. A pre-session meeting is an opportunity for children’s human rights defenders, such as children’s commissioners and civil society organisations, to meet with the…
January Newsletter
A message from Rocio – her hopes for 2023 Happy New Year all, Blwyddyn Newydd Dda pawb, and really hope that 2023 is treating you well so far. A new year always brings with it a sense of hope and possibility, and so I thought I would share with…
My advisory panel share their thoughts on Andrew Tate
On Monday I asked my young people’s advisory panel about Andrew Tate, the influencer whose controversial, and often misogynistic content has been widely discussed over the last few weeks. My panel consists of young people aged 11-18 from all over Wales, who advise me and my team on our…
My first time voting
Can you remember the first time you voted? How did you feel? Our Communications Officer Lewis shares his personal reflections of voting for the first time, not knowing much about politics, and his hopes for the future. I was 19 when I voted for the first time in an…