Written Statement: Support for families and vulnerable children

Coronavirus has had – and continues to have – a profound and ongoing impact on all aspects of our lives.

For children, and some of our most vulnerable children, young people and families, the impact of the virus and the challenges they face are far greater.

To help address those challenges and meet those needs, I am today announcing a significant package of funding. This is very much part of the Welsh Government’s Covid-19 Reconstruction: Challenges and Priorities agenda, which was set out earlier this month by the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition, Jeremy Miles: 

The total package amounts to £12.53m and will ensure that children, young people and families in Wales will receive the support they need during these very challenging and extraordinary times.

It includes:

• £2m to boost the Child Development Fund, which will provide additional support to children and families to address concerns around developmental delay, in areas such as speech, language and communication, fine and gross motor skills and personal and social development;
• £100,000 to upskill and train the childcare workforce and relevant health professionals to provide speech, language and communication support to children  and families;
• £800,000 to promote family stability and relationship quality, providing support to  families experiencing difficulties, helping to resolve conflict and reducing family stress;    
• £860,000 to fund capital projects to improve the quality of services being offered to families in Flying Start areas;
• £125,000 to extend the early years integration transformation programme to join up early years services to ensure children and families receive the support they require at the right time and in the right way;
• £1.4m for health boards for additional voluntary sector-led all age mental health support.

We are also investing in social services support to help families to stay safely together and to support and develop the capacity of foster care provision in Wales. This includes:

• £1.6m to local authorities to support their work in safely diverting cases from child protection registration;
• £2.2m to local authorities to support the development of enhanced or remodelled family group conferencing provision;
• £3m to support scoping work to develop a Family Drug and Alcohol Court model for Wales, in line with the recommendation from the Commission on Justice in Wales, and to help relieve case backlogs and support people leaving care;
• £75,000 to establish a transformation and support team to support children’s social services improvement and development;
• £320,000 to develop the Foster Wales brand as part of our work to deliver a National Fostering Framework for Wales;
• £50,000 to design and deliver specialist training for foster carers.