Anglesey’s Children and Families’ Service has been praised for its partnership work with a national charity.

The council was recently nominated by Action for Children for the Centre for Child Protection’s Collaboration Award 2022: Celebrating Outstanding Multidisciplinary Working.

Although Anglesey did not win the main award at the ceremony held in Kent last night (Wednesday 9 November), the collaboration between the Children and Families’ Service and Action for Children was highly commended.

Outlining its findings, the Centre for Child Protection judging panel said:

‘The Isle of Anglesey County Council provided an impressive nomination with strengths in child protection, creativity, collaboration, and impact. We thought that the Council acknowledged and welcomed third sector organisations – particularly, the established and essential services with Action for Children in supporting young carers.’

‘The council recognises the value of knowing the lived experience of young carers and they acknowledge the role of the third sector who are intricately involved with families and provide a great deal of intelligence to help understand and hear the child’s voice. The coordinated efforts to bring together essential services to reduce risk of crisis and offer early intervention is an example of outstanding collaborative practice which was highly commended by the panel.’

Children and Families’ Service Manager, Llyr ap Rhisiart, said, “We are extremely proud of this recognition for our work with Action for Children on Anglesey. For many years we have worked in partnership to develop innovative solutions to supporting children and young people through some of the most challenging times we have known.”

“We have succeeded in reaching out to hundreds of children by using the Blues and Bounce Back projects, which focuses on positive well-being and mental health; provided support through the Young Carers Project and the development of the AiDi young carers’ support app which has strengthened our partnership with Action for Children.”

Children (Social Services) and Youth Services portfolio holder, Councillor Gary Pritchard, added, "I’m delighted to hear of this well-deserved recognition from the Centre for Child Protection. As a Council, we appreciate the role that Action for Children has played in helping us to develop a number of services, such as the Early Help Hub on Anglesey. I hope that this close collaboration will continue as we look to provide a new more integrated provision of early help across the island.”

Laura Williams from Action for Children, said, “We were so pleased to hear that Anglesey County Council were highly commended at the 2022 Child Protection Collaboration Awards. Their commitment to child-centred working and facilitation of multi-agency working promotes the best outcomes for children and families. We look forward to continued collaborative working to ensure the children and young people we support have a safe and happy childhood.”

Ends 10 November 2022