Children and Young People’s Plan launch toolkit

The Devon Children and Young People’s Plan is an ambitious new vision for how public services will work together to better help and support children and their families in Devon.

It’s the first time all the organisations in Devon responsible for helping children, young people and their families (including councils, health services, the police, schools and the voluntary sector) have joined forced to ensure our children get the right support, in the right place at the right time so they can live safe, healthy and fulfilled lives.

The plan has been developed after extensive consultation with staff and stakeholders as well as local families and children about what support they feel they need in order to have the best possible start in life, tackle the challenges they face and the opportunity to thrive.

At its heart it recognises that many issues facing children and families are complex and inter-related and that problems in early life can have a huge impact on public services later in life.

The key priorities for action include:

• Improving the way local agencies work together to protect children at risk despite growing pressure on the care system
• Improving the way families and schools are supported to deal with the growing numbers of children with special educational needs and autism
• Helping young people stay out of trouble and be safe from gangs, drugs and exploitation
• Dealing with the big rise in mental health issues, self-harm and suicide among young people.

Please take time to have a look at the Children and Young People’s plan pages to find out more.

Be part of it – we need your help!

We all live as part of our community with a network of family, friends and other support. That’s why we want everyone from service leads and front-line staff to local community organisations and volunteer groups to consider themselves a part of the plan and understand the vital role they play in helping to give children and families the support they need.

We can all contribute to a child or young people’s welfare and well being and it’s often the little things that make a big difference.

To bring the plan to life, we want you to share your story on social media about how you are helping children and young people in Devon live safe, healthy and fulfilled lives.

This can be within your professional role (if you are a social worker, police officer, public health nurse etc) or something you do outside of work, for example if you volunteer as a Scout leader or football coach or maybe you listen to readers at your local school or help run the library Lego club at the weekend you’re helping children stay healthy and well, improving their mental health, giving them opportunities to thrive etc.

There are lots of useful campaign images you can use, or feel free to take your own photos and share them. Don’t forget to use #WeAreDevon to join the conversation and tag @DevonCFP on Twitter or Facebook.

Key messages:

• It’s an ambitious new vision bringing together all the organisations in Devon responsible for helping children, young people and their families
• We will work together to be there for children and families with the right support, at the right time, and in the right place
• We all want our children to thrive and by working together with families and communities we can give them the best start in life, ensure they are supported to be safe and well, and can fulfil their potential
• Children are best brought up in families with the right support that wraps around them when needed
• At its heart the plan recognises that many issues facing children and families are complex and inter-related and that problems in early life can have a huge impact on public services later in life
• Coming together to focus on the things that matter most to families we have been able to identify where we can do things better and target our resources to deliver a real difference.

Images:

You can download the full size campaign images or right click and save the ones below to use on your social media channels.

Please also feel free to take your own photos to show what you’re doing and don’t forget to use #WeAreDevon to join the conversation and tag @DevonCFP on Twitter or Facebook.

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