Maggie Atkinson is the Children's Commissioner for England. The Commissioner and her team make sure that adults in charge listen to children and young people.
The role of the Children's Commissioner was created by the Children Act 2004 and is there to promote the views of children and young people from birth to 18 (up to 21 for young people in care or with learning difficulties).
What does the Children's Commissioner do?
Listens to what children and young people have to say and speaks up for them.
Speaks up for children who are often not listened to like disabled children, asylum seekers, children with mental health problems and those who get into trouble with the law.
Informs the Government and other people who make important decisions what children and young people like to do and what they are concerned about.
Use her unique power to enter places where children live to speak to them and find out how they are being treated. Pass on the views and experiences of children and young people to the media.
Investigate complaints procedures for children and young people, to make sure that they work.
What the Commissioner Cant do...
Help individual children and young people with their problems.
Force the Government, schools and services to change.
Work on issues that aren’t relevant to children and young people in England.
Vision
Children and young people will be actively involved in shaping all decisions that affect their lives, are supported to achieve their full potential through the provision of appropriate services, and will live in homes and communities where their rights are respected and they are loved, safe and enjoy life.
Mission
We will use our powers and independence to ensure that the views of children and young people are routinely asked for, listened to and that outcomes for children improve over time. We will do this in partnership with others, by bringing children and young people into the heart of the decision-making process to increase understanding of their best interests.
How can young people have their say?
Children and young people can have their say by answering questions, creating shapes in Shape It! and uploading content such as videos, PowerPoint presentations and photographs to the children's commissioners website. Their views are used to shape our policies and influence decision-makers.
The Children's Commissioner website is very good very attractive and easy for children and young people to understand, however I think the biggest problem is that children don't know that it exists! I did not know we had a children's commissioner and I have asked round a number of friends/family adults and children and no one has any idea about it!
The website is a fantastic resource for children however I think its a great shame that it is not getting to the children and young people that really need it!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Smacking debate
http://www.itv.com/daybreak/lifestyle/familiesandparenting/thesmackingdebate/
The Smacking debate...should we or shouldn't we?! Personally I am against it, the law says you can smack your child as long as you do not leave a mark....but what do you think? With it being highlighted in the soaps recently daybreak looked into the issue the video clip is on the link above and worth a quick watch!
The Smacking debate...should we or shouldn't we?! Personally I am against it, the law says you can smack your child as long as you do not leave a mark....but what do you think? With it being highlighted in the soaps recently daybreak looked into the issue the video clip is on the link above and worth a quick watch!
British couple reveals sex of child they raised as ‘genderless’ for 5 years
Fox News article!!...
A British couple who raised their child as "gender neutral" in a bid to break free from stereotyping revealed Friday that their five-year-old is a boy.
Beck Laxton and her partner Kieran, from Sawston in central England, referred to their son, Sasha, as "the infant" and dressed the youngster in ambiguous outfits to keep his sex a secret from friends and strangers.
They decided to tell people the child's gender after it became more difficult to conceal when he started pre-school.
Laxton, a 46-year-old web editor, told the Cambridge News of her reasons for raising a "genderless" child.
"I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping," she said. "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes?"
Even the couple themselves chose not to discover whether Sasha was a boy or a girl until half an hour after his birth -- and in an email announcing the birth they simply told family and friends they "had a baby called Sasha."
"I don't think I'd do it if I thought it was going to make him unhappy, but at the moment he's not really bothered either way," she said. "All I want to do is make people think a bit."
The couple is happy to allow Sasha to wear flowery clothes -- and sent family and friends a Christmas card with a photo of the boy dressed in a pink fairy outfit.
Sasha is encouraged to play with gender-neutral toys in the family's television-free home, Laxton said.
A couple from Toronto hit the headlines in May last year when they refused to reveal the sex of their baby, Storm, as they wanted to raise the child "to be free of societal norms regarding gender."
What do you think?...Is it really a great idea? Are they being kind and giving the child the choice of how they want to grow up or are they just forcing their opinion onto a child who is to young to understand?!
Personally I think if they wanted the child to grow up with non gender specific toys I can agree with that but to not tell people the sex of the child are they just storing up issues for the child in the future?!
A British couple who raised their child as "gender neutral" in a bid to break free from stereotyping revealed Friday that their five-year-old is a boy.
Beck Laxton and her partner Kieran, from Sawston in central England, referred to their son, Sasha, as "the infant" and dressed the youngster in ambiguous outfits to keep his sex a secret from friends and strangers.
They decided to tell people the child's gender after it became more difficult to conceal when he started pre-school.
Laxton, a 46-year-old web editor, told the Cambridge News of her reasons for raising a "genderless" child.
"I wanted to avoid all that stereotyping," she said. "Stereotypes seem fundamentally stupid. Why would you want to slot people into boxes?"
Even the couple themselves chose not to discover whether Sasha was a boy or a girl until half an hour after his birth -- and in an email announcing the birth they simply told family and friends they "had a baby called Sasha."
"I don't think I'd do it if I thought it was going to make him unhappy, but at the moment he's not really bothered either way," she said. "All I want to do is make people think a bit."
The couple is happy to allow Sasha to wear flowery clothes -- and sent family and friends a Christmas card with a photo of the boy dressed in a pink fairy outfit.
Sasha is encouraged to play with gender-neutral toys in the family's television-free home, Laxton said.
A couple from Toronto hit the headlines in May last year when they refused to reveal the sex of their baby, Storm, as they wanted to raise the child "to be free of societal norms regarding gender."
What do you think?...Is it really a great idea? Are they being kind and giving the child the choice of how they want to grow up or are they just forcing their opinion onto a child who is to young to understand?!
Personally I think if they wanted the child to grow up with non gender specific toys I can agree with that but to not tell people the sex of the child are they just storing up issues for the child in the future?!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Dale farm saga continues!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061909/Dale-Farm-Just-hours-18m-eviction-complete-travellers-queue-RETURN-site.html
Article in the daily mail!! They have spent £18million to evict them and they are already moving back!
Article in the daily mail!! They have spent £18million to evict them and they are already moving back!
Mary Ainsworth
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00f8n6q
This link is a really informative Radio 4 program talking about Mary Ainswaorths Strange Situation work.
Much research in psychology has focused on how forms of attachment differ between infants. For example, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) discovered what appeared to be innate differences in sociability in babies; some babies preferred cuddling more than others, from very early on, before much interaction had occurred to cause such differences.
However, it was Mary Ainsworth provided the most famous body of research offering explanations of individual differences in attachment.
It’s easy enough to know when you are attached to someone because you know how you feel when you are apart from that person, and, being an adult, you can put your feelings into words and describe how it feels.
However, most attachment research is carried out using infants and young children, so psychologists have to devise subtle ways of researching attachment, using involving the observational method.
Mary Ainsworth devised an assessment technique called the Strange Situation Classification (SSC) in order to investigate how attachments might vary between children. The video below also demonstrates the situation. (Think it is the same one we watched last week but just a good memory jogger!)
This link is a really informative Radio 4 program talking about Mary Ainswaorths Strange Situation work.
Much research in psychology has focused on how forms of attachment differ between infants. For example, Schaffer and Emerson (1964) discovered what appeared to be innate differences in sociability in babies; some babies preferred cuddling more than others, from very early on, before much interaction had occurred to cause such differences.
However, it was Mary Ainsworth provided the most famous body of research offering explanations of individual differences in attachment.
It’s easy enough to know when you are attached to someone because you know how you feel when you are apart from that person, and, being an adult, you can put your feelings into words and describe how it feels.
However, most attachment research is carried out using infants and young children, so psychologists have to devise subtle ways of researching attachment, using involving the observational method.
Mary Ainsworth devised an assessment technique called the Strange Situation Classification (SSC) in order to investigate how attachments might vary between children. The video below also demonstrates the situation. (Think it is the same one we watched last week but just a good memory jogger!)
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
My Transsexual Summer
My Transsexual Summer on tonight channel 4 10pm!
New series following 7 transgender men & women through various stages of gender reassignment.
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