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.
First three months
It’s been three months since I took up the post of Children’s Commissioner for Wales, an important job, standing up for the rights of the 630,000 children who live in Wales. One of the most important parts of my role is listening to what children and young people tell…
Guest post by Fatjona Koka – Work Placement
My time at the Children’s Commissioner for Wales I was offered a 16 weeks placement at the Children’s Commissioner for Wales from the organisation that I have volunteered for years, Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team Wales (EYST). I firstly had an online meeting with the participation team officer…
My Welsh Promise
Since starting as commissioner, it’s evident to me that the Welsh language is a living, breathing language here, with the team using it every day, in every aspect of our work. It’s not something we just use to convey messages but it’s a way of us connecting with one…
Equal Protection for children at last
‘What, adults are actually allowed to smack their children?’ I’ll always remember my then 7-year-old son’s disbelief after I began publicly campaigning for equal protection. I was an academic at Cardiff University at the time, making the case along with many others in the field that Wales needed to…
Castle Park Primary School
Today, some of the Year 6 pupil leadership group met with Sally Holland, Child’s Commissioner for Wales and Kath O’Kane who works alongside Sally. We are so grateful for Sally giving up her time to meet with us, on TEAMS, as she is so busy. Sally and Kath gave…
Opening Doors: an update on our ‘No Wrong Door’ work
There’s not a week goes by where I don’t hear about or discuss an issue relating to children’s mental health. Too often, I hear about how children and their families who are looking for support for a range of needs find that they have to navigate a very complex…
Universal Children’s Day 2021: A Welsh welcome to child refugees
‘Shwmae’! This was first word that greeted me when I met some Afghan child refugees recently. They had only been in Wales for three weeks but had already picked up the Welsh greeting of ‘Shw’mae’ (how are you) as well as ‘diolch’ (thank you) and ‘un, dau, tri’ (1,2,3)….
GCSEs and A-levels 2021: Has Wales passed the test?
This week is an unusual results week for many reasons. Not only did Welsh candidates receive a report of their provisional results several weeks ago, but the traditional exam hall was replaced by a more flexible system that depended on schools and colleges taking the lead in determining how…
The year ahead: Six tasks for the new government
The next year will be a high stakes one for Welsh children and young people. There are glimmers of hope as we seem to be emerging from the worst of the pandemic, but there is definitely tension in the air as many harbour an underlying anxiety about further waves….
What the lockdown has made visible about children’s lives
When it became clear how drastic the measures would be in response to the pandemic, all of us who work to protect children’s rights took a sharp intake of breath. Not just because of the sheer disruption to everyday lives, but because we knew immediately that children’s experiences of…