Transcript Play in Wales - Our Vision for the Future

The Welsh Assembly Government's
approach to supporting disadvantaged
families, including key policies such as
childcare, play, parenting and basic skills
Martin Swain
Head of Children and Families Programmes
Welsh Assembly Government
Child poverty factors
• Numerous factors have a strong association with severe
child poverty, such as;
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Living in a household where no adult works
Having at least one parent with a disability
Living in a lone parent household
Living in a large family
Living in a family from an ethnic minority background
Living in a family where mothers do not have any
educational qualifications, etc.
Outcomes for disadvantaged children
• Young people from poorer families do less well in school
than young people from richer families, and are more
likely to engage in antisocial behaviour as teenagers.
• Developmental, behavioural and educational outcomes
are poorer for children living in poverty.
• Young people from poorer backgrounds can often;
– Have a lower belief in their own ability
– Be less likely to enjoy school or find it worthwhile
– Have lower future aspirations
Family support priorities
• We are focused on tackling child poverty.
• Family support is key, and we have identified the following initial
priorities:–
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Affordable childcare
Parental skills
Parenting support
Basic skills
Health support
Play
Information for parents
Challenges
• The need for a mechanism to co-ordinate anti-poverty
interventions which integrates support from the relevant
agencies.
• Clear pathways for family support and clear progression
between interventions.
• Targeted support tailored to specific family
circumstances.
Integrated Children’s Centres
• We will be working closely with ICCs to establish their
role as a community centre focus to support services.
• ICCs are able to provide a hub between other services
such as school provision, Communities First, and local
community centres.
The need to be proactive
• We cannot simply rely on disadvantaged families seeking
assistance.
• There needs to be a programme that actively seeks out
disadvantaged children, ensuring that nobody slips
through the net.
• Utilising networks, where possible, to ensure take-up of
existing interventions.
Shared Planning for Better Outcomes
• The importance of planning for preventative
intervention is highlighted in Shared Planning for
Better Outcomes, which states;
– “The earlier an intervention can be made, the greater
is the likelihood of its success. Not only is this better
for the individual child or young person but it should
result in earlier identification of potential problems
and help to reduce more expensive interventions at a
later stage.“
Cymorth
• Cymorth – the Children and Youth Support Fund aims to
provide a network of targeted support for children and
young people within a framework of universal provision,
in order to improve the life chances of children and
young people from disadvantaged families.
• The overall aim of Cymorth is to use partnership working
and targeted investment to impact positively, in the
medium term, on the indicators of well being for children
and young people.
Cymorth preventative support
• Good quality childcare can help to:–
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reduce child poverty
promote social inclusion
build stronger communities
reduce crime and disorder
• Cymorth supports projects which deal with all
these issues. Early preventative work can assist
children, young people and their families,
catching them before they require crisis
intervention.
Cymorth family support theme
• One of the six themes under Cymorth is ‘Family Support’,
aiming to ensure that families have access to support
that fosters positive relationships between parents and
children.
• The types of activity under this theme would be targeted
parenting programmes, family conferencing, parenttoddler and single parents’ groups.
Value of secure family relationships
• Research shows that children who enjoy warm, secure,
affectionate relationships with at least one primary
caregiver are more likely to thrive and prove resilient in
face of later difficulties, than those who do not.
• The way that parents and other caregivers treat children,
interact with them and respond to their physical and
emotional needs can exert an influence on their
wellbeing and behaviour that endures through childhood,
adolescence and on into adult life.
Importance of good parenting
• Good parenting and strong family relationships are key
factors in providing children with the best start in life.
• The quality of parenting during the early years has an
impact on outcomes for children.
Parenting programmes
• Parenting programmes have been identified to:–
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Prevent the development of mental health problems
Be effective in changing parenting practices
Prevent behavioural problems such as school truancy
Reduce crime
Improve aspects of maternal psychosocial health, including anxiety,
depression and self-esteem.
• Engagement of parents in parenting programmes also has the wider
benefit of making parents feel less isolated, more able to ask for
support, and more involved in their local community.
• This is where projects like The Incredible Years can make all the
difference to families in Wales.
Flying Start
• Flying Start is aimed at improving outcomes for children
in areas of significant deprivation, and supports more
than 16,000 children across Wales.
• The programme provides targeted investment for
children up to the age of three in the most deprived
communities in Wales, and aims to improve life chances
for these children.
The Flying Start support package
• Local discretion determines the balance between the
different elements which include:-
– Quality part-time childcare for 2 year olds (from the
first term following their second birthday to the first
term following their third birthday);
– Enhanced levels of health visiting (with a maximum
ratio of 1 health visitor to 110 children);
– Parenting programmes;
– Basic skills.
Flying Start parenting activity
• Flying Start parenting activity recognises that parents
are in almost all cases the first and most important
external influence on the way their infants and young
children develop.
• A greater concentration of resources targeted at
vulnerable children and families assists in combating the
effects of social and economic disadvantage.
Genesis Cymru Wales 2
• Genesis Wales 2 comprises 2 European Structural
Funded programmes that cover both the Convergence
and Regional Competitiveness & Employment areas of
Wales under the Priority ‘Increasing employment and
tackling economic inactivity’.
• The main objective of Genesis Wales 2 is to help those
individuals who are classed as furthest away from the
economic market and support them towards
employment.
Genesis support package
• The different types of support provided by the project are:–
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Parenting Support
Provision of taster courses/taster childcare sessions
Mentoring support
Activities including acquiring new skills, building their confidence and
qualifications
Support to address specific needs
Support for individuals requiring counselling
Support individuals to source other funding options or where none is
available, provide financial support for the funding of appropriate
travel costs, equipment and childcare.
Activities to train or start work/self employment
Support for new childcare provision.
Genesis target groups
• The primary target groups for the project are;-
– 80 % female lone parents.
– Economically inactive or unemployed
– And for the Convergence area only – employed individuals who
have a work limiting condition for example post-natal
depression.
• Individuals could also be supported if they are classed as
furthest away from the economic market and fall under
the following categories:– NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
– BME (Black and Ethnic Minorities)
– Older Participants.
Basic skills
• Improving learning and skills can provide a key route out
of poverty.
• It is recognised that far too many people are excluded
from full participation in society as a result of limited
knowledge of financial matters.
• The Welsh Assembly Government has worked with
partners across Wales to embed financial education in
the curriculum applied in all maintained schools from
September 2008.
‘Bookstart’ and ‘Language and Play’
• The Bookstart programme is funded through the basic
skills strategy and as a result all children receive a book
bag and early years pack at 9 and 18 months
respectively.
• The Language and Play programme is designed to
support the parents of 0-3 year old children to develop
the language and communication skills of their children.
The emphasis is on learning through engagement in
language rich play experiences.
• Bookstart and Language and Play contribute to the aims
and ambitions of the Foundation Phase and are the
stepping stones towards ensuring that more children are
ready for learning when they enter fulltime education.
Family Learning Programmes
• Family Learning Programmes, delivered as part of the
Basic Skills Strategy, is one of the longest established
basic skills support programmes in Wales.
• Family Learning Programmes supports parents to help
raise levels of literacy and numeracy amongst them and
their children.
• There are three types of courses within the programme:
workshops for parents and children - to engage parents
in their children’s learning; short courses to give parents
the knowledge and confidence to support their children’s
learning; and longer courses which have a three strand
approach – children withdrawn for additional help,
parents developing their own basic skills, and joint
sessions where parents and children work together.
Play Policy Implementation Plan
• Through Play children and young people can lead
healthy lifestyles. Our Play Implementation Plan
recognised the importance of nutrition and exercise in a
child’s development. The Plan also highlighted the
research evidence that play freely chosen by children,
provides good exercise.
• Children need a caring, stimulating environment, safe
and secure where they can be happy and valued as
individuals. We know that play is an important part of a
child’s life and through this we can promote their
development, learning, creativity and independence.
Children & Families (Wales) Measure
• The Children & Families (Wales) Measure will give local
authorities new powers to provide or secure provision of
parenting support services, in respect of which we may
issue guidance.
• Also, for the first time, local authorities would be
required to set specific objectives in relation to parenting
support.
• This reinforces that local authority activity in relation to
parenting should be undertaken in the context of their
overall child poverty duties and objectives.
Children & Families (Wales) Measure
contd…
• By making legislative provision for Cymorth – one of the Assembly
Government’s main levers for tackling child poverty – we are
ensuring that important parenting and health support services will
continue to be available to those most in need.
• Local authorities will also be required to assess sufficiency of play
opportunities in their areas both in terms of quality and quantity and
to use that assessment to meet a new duty to secure play
opportunities in its area, so far is reasonably practicable.
• It is the intention that guidance will set ‘play’ (including recreation)
firmly in the context of the Play Policy Implementation Plan and will
reflect Wales’ particular approach to play encompassed by both the
Play Policy and implementation plan.
Conclusion
• Tackling disadvantage requires an inclusive and
holistic approach, which cuts across Welsh
Assembly Government portfolios and across the
work of its partners.
• Joining up policies and delivering programmes in
a more integrated way will be how we ensure it
is the children and families that need our help
most, are those that get that help.