Children & Young People Now

School readiness programme that puts parents at the heart of the solution shows significant improvements in language development, daily living skills, behaviour and cognition for children growing up in challenging circumstances. Homestart volunteers support parents to read with their child. Picture: Homestart Project name: Big Hopes Big Future, Southwark and Lewisham Purpose: To support parents to prepare their children to start school ready to learn and thrive.

Drastic changes to the immigration and asylum systems threaten children’s rights and could undermine government ambitions for young people, explains Anita Hurrell, head of policy at Coram. It has been estimated the proposed immigration changes could prolong poverty for up to 90,000 children of migrant workers. Picture: AdobeStock Any child whose family claims asylum from 2 March 2026 and is granted protection as a refugee will now only get 30-months leave, instead of five years.

The Department for Education has appointed care-experienced broadcaster, Ashley John-Baptiste to lead a review into the deaths of vulnerable young people leaving the care system. Ashley John-Baptiste: 'It troubles me deeply that so many care experienced people have died so early.' The Care Leaver Deaths Review will report later this year, in a move aimed at strengthening support for care leavers and preventing further tragedies.

Local government reorganisation will drive an increase in senior leader roles in children's services at a time of major change due to government reforms, explains Jane Parfrement of The Staff College, which has launched its Aspirant DCS programme. Jane Parfrement is chief executive of The Staff College The last 18 months have seen one of the most stable periods of children's services leadership since the role of the director of children's services (DCS) was established.

A leading children’s rights advocate has criticised a fostering recruitment campaign by Croydon Council, arguing that its messaging risks reducing children in care to a “price tag”. Pierre said the campaign poster 'frames fostering as something done primarily for financial motivation'.

Youth organisations across the UK can bid for a share of a new £10 million fund to expand access to youth work. UK Youth chief executive Rosie Ferguson urged other funders to invest in expanding access to youth work. The UK Youth Fund has been created thanks to a £10mn donation from the Pears Foundation, adding to the £9mn already pledged in recent years.

The public inquiry into the murders of three children at a dance class in Southport in July 2024 has concluded that health, social care and education agencies missed multiple opportunities to intervene with the teenage killer which would have prevented the attack taking place. Chair of the inquiry Sir Adrian Fulford criticised information sharing by agencies involved in Rudakubana's case.

The Independent Inquiry into Grooming Gangs, chaired by former Children’s Commissioner for England Baroness Anne Longfield, has been formally opened this week. Baroness Longfield will chair the inquiry, which is expected to run for three years. Picture: Centre for Young Lives The inquiry follows mounting political and public pressure to address systemic failures in tackling group-based child sexual exploitation, and builds on recommendations from Baroness Casey’s 2025 National Audit.

The co-author of a landmark review of foster care in England answers questions on his new role as chief executive of the National Association of Fostering Providers (NAFP). Owers: 'We need to get much clearer about what children actually need and how the system responds to that.' From this month, Mark Owers has taken on the role of chief executive of the NAFP, the umbrella body representing the interests of independent fostering agencies (IFA) in the UK.

Dave Roberts, deputy chief executive of The Mulberry Bush, explains why the charity is closing an archive of records and research on therapeutic communities and children's residential care - and updates progress on rehoming the collections. The collections hold decades of records, case material, research and lived experience.