Together for Children is a network of organisations and individuals which seeks to uphold the principles and fundamental legal protections contained within the Children Act 1989 and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Our most recent joint action was the #ScrapSI445 campaign to reinstate children’s rights in care. Read more here.
Read our 30 general election pledges, published 6 November 2019. More here.
We support a rights-based children’s social care system, where entitlements to care, protection and support are:
– Clear
– Non-stigmatising
– Universal in scope, and
– Can be defended by recourse to the law.
Together for Children is convened by a national steering group.* If you would like to join Together for Children, please complete the online form below.
Background
Article 39 formed Together for Children in 2016 to lobby against the Government’s plans in the Children and Social Work Bill to permit councils to opt-out of their children’s social care statutory duties. For those local authorities subject to compulsory intervention, the Government sought powers to force them to opt out of their children’s social care duties.
By the time our campaign achieved its aims – when the then Education Secretary supported amendments to delete all of the exemption clauses from the Bill – Together for Children had the public support of 53 organisations and 160+ individual experts. Over 108,000 people had signed our 38 DEGREES petition!
We successfully worked together again in 2018, to protest against several recommendations in Sir Martin Narey and Mark Owers’ ‘Foster care in England’ report. These appeared to resuscitate some of the Government’s intentions behind the defeated clauses.
Then in September 2018, 50 organisations and social work experts from Together for Children wrote to the Children’s Minister, Nadhim Zahawi MP, pointing out legal inaccuracies in a so-called ‘myth busting’ guide published by the Department for Education. Once again, this followed a similar deregulation theme to the defeated clauses in the Children and Social Work Bill. The guide was withdrawn following legal action by Article 39, supported by Together for Children. A commitment was given by the Department for Education that children and young people, and interested organisations, would be consulted prior to the publication of any future similar document.
Together for Children is not part of Together for Children Sunderland Ltd.
You can read about the history of our campaigns on a separate site here.
Article 39 acts as the secretariat for Together for Children. Members of our national steering group:
- Ben Twomey, Head of Policy and Research, National Youth Advocacy Service (NYAS)
- Carolyne Willow, Director, Article 39
- Jonathan Stanley, National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care
- Karen Goodman, Social Workers Without Borders
- Katrina Goodman, Career Guidance Covenant Progression Co-ordinator
- Dr Mark Kerr, Chief Executive, Centre for Outcomes of Care
- Natalie Williams, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Advisor, Children’s Rights Alliance for England
- Pete Bentley, Nagalro