The Children's Commisioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes looking straight at the camera smiling.

Commissioner’s Blog and Newsletters

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.

March Newsletter

A promise to care experienced young people Over twenty years ago, as a result of significant failures to support children in care, Wales took a brave decision to create a Children’s Commissioner whose job would be to protect and promote children’s rights and be an independent advocate for Wales’…

Cymru i Bawb – A Wales for all

This month marks the two-year anniversary of war breaking out in Ukraine, of millions of children being displaced, and of many of those children finding solace and protection in Wales.  I recently met with a group of young people in south Wales, who had all fled their home countries,…

February Newsletter

A meeting with young people who had fled their home countries, welcoming new advisory panel members, and other news and events from February.

The problem with learner travel

Imagine a daily commute. It starts early, and at this time of year the sun has barely risen over the horizon. Some pavements and paths are lit by streetlights; some aren’t. It’s a journey of several miles, and involves a change of public buses in a busy urban area. You might well have a similar commute…

November Newsletter

Racism in Schools This week we published our new report, ‘Take it seriously’:children’s experiences of racism in secondary schools. This report examines the experiences of children and young people in Wales and shows that, sadly, very many children and young people experience racism and racist incidents within secondary school,…

October Newsletter

Ysgol Maes y Dderwen This month Rocio and two members of the team visited Ysgol Maes y Dderwen’s Equality and Inclusion Group to hear the voices of young people about equality issues facing them in their daily life. They discussed the challenges of living in a rural area, and…

A secure place to call home

Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) sets out that all children have a right to an adequate standard of living. Welsh Government have recently consulted on how to secure a path towards adequate housing. But, what does the phrase ‘adequate’ mean…

September Newsletter

Commissioner gives evidence to the Equality and Social Justice Committee The Commissioner gave evidence to the Equality and Social Justice committee on their focused inquiry on Welsh Government’s draft child poverty strategy. A key message from the Commissioner is that Welsh Government must comprehensively revise their draft strategy. It…

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…