Corporate Parenting Strategy 2025 to 2030

The success of this strategy depends upon all those with a corporate parenting responsibility, as set out in the Children Act 2004, contributing to the wellbeing of our children. We will further engage with our partners in supporting children and young people to achieve their goals. As a council we will build in a corporate parenting focus into our decision pathways, service plans and equality impact processes to ensure we have explored all opportunities for positive impact on our children and young people and avoid any inadvertent detrimental impact. The corporate leadership team will take responsibility for ensuring engagement in corporate parenting is embedded across the council and will encourage our partners take a similar approach.

We are dedicated to providing nurturing and supportive environments where our children and young people feel safe, valued, and empowered to reach their potential. We will constantly ask ourselves ‘would this be good enough for my child?’

We will treat children and young people with dignity and empathy, attending to their backgrounds, experiences and identities. We will listen to their voices, involve them in decision making, and wherever possible honour their preferences.

We are ambitious for our children and young people. This principle involves setting high expectations and aspirations for each child and young person, supporting them to dream big and pursue their goals with confidence and determination. It means providing access to educational, vocational and recreational opportunities that expand their horizons and enable them to overcome obstacles and fulfil their aspirations.

In delivering our strategy we will ensure that the local authority and all our partners have regards to the following principles that will direct the way we work: