Welcome to Business Influence

Action for Children is committed to helping the most vulnerable children and young people in the UK break through injustice, deprivation and inequality, so they can achieve their full potential.

A proud heritage

We have been working with the UK’s most vulnerable children since 1869. We were originally called the National Children’s Home, or NCH, until September 2008 when we changed our name to one that better describes what we do and what we value – Action for Children.

Passionate about potential

We believe all children and young people have unique potential and that they should have the support and opportunities they need to reach it.

Action for Children helps nearly 156,000 children, young people and their families through nearly 420 projects across the UK. We also promote social justice by lobbying and campaigning for change.

Changing lives

Today, Action for Children is the leading UK provider of family and community centres, children's services in rural areas, services for disabled children and their families, and services for young people leaving care.

We provide services in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and we also support work in Southern Africa, the Caribbean and Central America.

We have just launched our "Neglect Appeal" (Monday 12th October) please find details below..

Why is Action for Children launching an appeal?

Action for Children believes that no child should be neglected
Because neglected children desperately need our help
Because most people in the UK are unaware of neglect – and that it’s happening on their doorstep
Action for Children is launching an urgent appeal to tell the stories of neglected children and help them and their families overcome neglect

What is neglect?

Neglect is regularly failing to meet a child’s basic needs – from love and support to food and clothing

Why is it important?

Serious neglect kills children in the UK
Studies suggest that up to 10% of children in the UK experience neglect. That’s almost 1.5 million
The equivalent of up to a fifth of all schoolchildren in England
More than: The entire population of Birmingham and Sheffield combined

The problem is huge and going unnoticed:

In the UK, almost half (48%) of children identified as being at risk of harm are identified because of neglect
In England 46%; Scotland 45%; Wales 50%; Northern Ireland 49%
The number of children who have become the subject of a Child Protection Plan because of neglect has risen by over 21% in England between 2004 and 2008 (gone up from 12,600 to 15,300)
Action for Children found that one in four adults have been worried that a child they know or living in their area is being neglected, and over a third (38%) did not tell anyone about their concerns

The reasons why adults hesitate to act on their suspicions include:

16% of adults said they did not tell anyone because they were frightened of repercussions or it may cause them trouble.
15% said they did not tell anyone because it was not any of their business.
One in ten of adults (11%) would tell a neighbour, relative or friend about their suspicions first rather than social services or the Police.
15% said that a lack of proof prevented them from doing anything.
23% said they did not think they had enough information about who to ask for help

What is Action for Children going to do?

We’re aiming to:
- Raise £17m help us work directly with children, young people and parents to overcome neglect. By this we mean:
  - In year one:
    - Develop four new, mobile services to reach out to children who don’t use the services we already have
    - Develop a programme to involve fathers more in mainstream services
    - Develop a programme to tackle poor nutrition in all our family support services
  - In years two and three:
    - Ensure that a new tool for assessing neglect is used in all Action for Children services
    - Develop 12 more mobile services to reach out to more children
    - Develop nationwide programmes to tackle other specific aspects of neglect
    - Deliver a UK-wide workshop programme to continuously develop the skills of our family support workers so they can better meet the needs of neglected children
- Campaign to improve the way agencies respond to neglect
- Do all that we can to encourage the government to pursue a policy of intervening as early as possible – before problems get out of hand
- Encourage the government to spend more – and more wisely – on public services that focus on early intervention
Families need:
- Long-term help to stop neglect spinning from generation to generation
- There can’t be short-term fixes. Families need support for as long as it takes
Action for Children will provide this. We already help 156,000 children, young people and families, but we need to help more

What can I do?

Take your action for children:
- Give:
  - You can make a donation or leave a legacy in your will. You can take part in one of our fundraising events or organise your own event in your school, college, community or workplace. You can also give your time by volunteering with Action for Children
- Act:
  - Sign our petition calling on UK governments to wake up to the scale of neglect in the UK and recognise the importance of early intervention
  - You can also write to your political representative highlighting the scale of neglect in their area/constituency and requesting that they sign an Early Day Motion/similar tabled in support of our appeal. In addition, we will be allowing people to download a fundraising or campaigning pack from the Action for Children website. Find out more at www.actionforchildren.org.uk
- Share:
  - We need supporters to tell as many people as they can about the scale of neglect in the UK and, via our appeal, what they can do to help. People can spread the word using our special viral video. We’re asking supporters to go to our website to personalise the video and challenge their friends and family to take their own action for children. Find out more at www.actionforchildren.org.uk
- Play:
  - One of the major manifestations of neglect is children spending no, or very little, time with their parent(s), family or carers. We want to tackle this by encouraging parents/families/carers to spend as much time as they can with their children and will be doing this by providing ideas of what they can do together. We’re asking Action for Children celebrity supporters, staff and the general public to submit their ideas too. We ant to hear your ideas too! Find out more at www.actionforchildren.org.uk

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