Key Campaigning Issues

Abuse recovery: We believe that abuse in childhood must not be allowed to cloud the rest of a child's life. Healing must happen; children can be given hope again for their future. Abuse recovery services however are often the least funded. We want children to get the help they need when they need it. See our Child Abuse factsheet and our Worried about a child? factsheet

Child witnesses: Children recovering from abuse have told us that the trial is often as bad as the abuse. We are continuing to campaign for further change to ensure that children can give their best evidence in court and that justice is not denied them because of their age and trust in adults. See our Child Witnesses factsheet.

An end to physical punishment of children: One of our longstanding campaigns is for an end to hitting children. Yes children need boundaries and rules to be safe and happy, but adults need to recognise that hitting children is harmful and does not make them better children. We want protection for children from hitting and help for parents in providing effective discipline. See our Children and Physical Punishment factsheet

Making child protection everyone's responsibility: Children depend on adults to keep them safe. Most adults want to be people that children can trust to do this. We want everyone to be able to play their part.

CHILDREN ^1ST has pioneered the use of Family Group Conferences. FGCs draw on the strengths of the wider family in finding solutions to keeping children safely in the care of their families. We want all families who are subject to official decision making about the future of their child to have the opportunity of an FGC.

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