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Dame Rachel de Souza talking to two school girls

Giving all
children
a voice

All the Children’s Commissioner’s work is driven by what children told us is important to them

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A voice for teenagers in care and care leavers
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A service for children in care, living away from home, with a social worker and care leavers
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Tomorrow, we will be publishing Part I of our independent Family Review – a review into contemporary family life in the UK.

We asked families to contribute to our research by sharing their Family Profile – a snapshot of what families means to them, their strengths, the challenges they may have experienced, how they like to spend their time and the support that they value the most.

We will be sharing the Family Profiles we received over the next few weeks, starting with the first three below:

I am a mother to a son, age 9, and a wife to my husband – we all live together. Both my husband and I work full time and we ensure our son goes to school every day. He has had 100% attendance for the past five years. Sometimes juggling full time work with school holidays is a struggle. We take holidays in April and October as we can’t afford Summer prices. But I most value our holiday time together, enjoying days out and spending weekends with one another.
I have two daughters aged 15 and 19. They split their time evenly between their father and I as we are divorced. We have a dog and a cat as well. My sisters live nearby, in the same town, and my brother is only a few miles away. Time together as a family is something we all really value. Even though we’re no longer married, my ex-husband and I are very good friends – we have each other’s backs, we have good communication and there’s lots of humour. We care about each other. My mother died recently and that has been difficult. I used a bereavement counselling service, and it was excellent. In fact, it was the counsellor who suggested we get the dog, which has had an exceptionally positive impact on the whole family – a boost for everyone’s mental health and wellbeing.
I am a mother of six children aged 18-32. My husband, brother, mother of 85, cat and tortoise are also part of my family. All my children are happy and five are working in careers that make them happy. My mother is very successful running a charity and is a role model to the family. My husband retired after a successful career. I most value all children being home together – making a family of eight again. The school run was a challenge but friends helped with the children. I also found careers for women difficult.

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