The British Forces Germany
Children & Young People's Plan
2006/07
We want BFG to be an inspiring, safe and healthy place for all our children and young people to enjoy, learn and develop whilst benefiting from the opportunities of living in a foreign country.
Foreword
I am delighted to introduce this, our first Children and Young People's Plan (CYPP) for British Forces Germany (BFG). It is a strategic document designed to provide the necessary focus from which our community services can continue to develop in the best interests of our children and young people. Our CYPP vision really says it all:
We want BFG to be an inspiring, safe and healthy place for all
our children and young people to enjoy, learn and develop whilst benefiting from the opportunities of living in a foreign country.
This plan has been drawn together in close consultation with all those who have a role in supporting and nurturing our children, young people and families, and most importantly with the involvement of children and young people themselves. The CYPP builds on the work of the Community Services Forum and forms a critical part of the Community Services Strategy now in its second year of operation. Meanwhile the BFG Speak Out conferences in their fourth year are a tangible example of how important we see it to listen and to act, where possible, on the views of our children and young people. Just one example is the recent creation of Garrison-level Youth Opportunity Funds for young people to spend on locally agreed projects or priorities.
One of our continuing challenges remains the inherent turbulence of military life, with families facing serial postings and operational separations. Our adoption of the key features of the Children Act 2004 provides us with an excellent framework to meet these challenges as set out in our vision. Clearly the role of parents is central to its achievement and we have a crucial task to provide support to parents and to carers. In this respect, early identification, intervention and support is a fundamental tenet of our approach.
I remain confident that we are well placed to ensure that our children and young people in BFG are well supported, nurtured and stimulated. This is due in no small part to the hard work and dedication of the many professionals and volunteers attending to the needs of our children and young people. But we are not complacent there is always room for improvement. This plan provides that opportunity.
Major General D R Bill April 2006
General Officer Commanding, United Kingdom Support Command ( Germany ).
Introduction
Within the United Kingdom , the Children Act 2004 and Every Child Matters strategy have lead to local authorities publishing annual plans which will coordinate the improvement to children's services in the future. In the spirit of the Act, this is the first BFG children and young people's plan (CYPP); it sets out the agreed vision for children and young people in BFG, the priority actions, and the steps which will be taken to improve the following 5 Outcomes for all children and young people within BFG.
• Be Healthy
• Stay Safe
• Enjoy & Achieve
• Make a Positive Contribution
• Achieve Economic Well-Being
The purpose of the BFG CYPP is to direct and enable all agencies which support children and young people in BFG, and help them to fulfil their duty to co-operate as enshrined within the Act.
The Plan recognises the important role parents and carers play in helping children and young people achieve the 5 Outcomes, and it sets out how we can best support this. The CYPP builds on and complements the BFG Community Services Strategy. The detailed Plan is a tool for the agencies and the Garrison Authority Boards to improve service and outcomes.
The Plan is published by United Kingdom Support Command ( Germany ) (UKSC(G), and has the full support of the key agencies who provide services to our children and young people.
Children and Young People's Rights
Every child and young person in BFG has the right to the support they need to:
• be healthy
• be safe and to feel safe
• have fun and do well both in and out of school
• get involved with the community and to have their voice heard
• be well prepared for a successful life
Key Principles
The services, which support children and young people and their families, are based on the following principles:
• Safety and well-being safeguarding and promoting the well-being of children and young people is paramount.
• Raising aspirations wanting the best for, and expecting the most out of, every individua l.
• Meeting individual need ensuring that services are relevant, and readily available for those who need them.
• Taking account of the views of children, young people, parents carers and families providing the opportunity for users to be involved in the planning, commissioning and monitoring of services.
• Partnership ensuring that providers of services operate in a multi-agency and integrated manner .
• Inclusion & equality of opportunity working to overcome barriers to ensure that all children and young people receive the help they need to have a happy and fulfilling life .
• Evidence based practice ensuring what we do is based on need, doing what has been proven to work and learning from our actions.
• Prevention & Early Intervention putting services in the right place at the right time .
• Supporting Parents, Carers and Families recognising that parents/carers are the best people to support their children, putting actions in place to give parents the support they need to do this.
Priorities
The following are the priorities for Children's Services in BFG:
• Safeguarding . Ensure that the safety and wellbeing of our children and young people is paramount.
• Change . Service life is full of changes, we want to make sure that our children get all the help they need.
• Parents . We will make sure that Mum, Dad and carers get the help they need to bring up their children.
• Working together . The Plan will help people co-operate to provide services.
• Living in a foreign country . We will support children and young people in the future to make the most out of living in Germany .
• Measuring ourselves . We want to be able to measure what we do well and what we could do better. To ensure we provide the right services in the right place at the right time.
• The older teenager . We will aim to increase the options which are available for 16-19 year olds, including training in the work place.
• Common Assessment Framework . We will use this tool to improve the way our services work together and how people who need extra support are helped earlier.
Profile
The British Forces Germany (BFG) community is a sizeable one, consisting of approximately 54,000 people grouped into five main Garrisons (Hohne, Osnabruck , Gutersloh , Paderborn and Rhein) over an area similar to the size of Scotland . The key points are:
- Some 15,000 children and young people of which approximately 3,000 attend boarding school in the UK .
- The majority (70+%) of children in BFG are under 11 yo.
- There are approximately 870 births each year.
- The rate of turbulence is very high with the average 11 year old having attended 3 primary schools.
- Children and young people are dispersed across a large area such that the 11+ and more significantly the 16+ groups in each location are small.
- All children and young people have at least one parent in full time employment and live in accommodation which is at least of an adequate minimum standard .
- A sizeable proportion of children and young people have to travel over 50 minutes each way to attend school. Many have to board within Germany either termly or weekly.
- Often families will be reduced to lone parent families as the serving member is posted on operational tours for 3-9 months.
- Extended family support can be many hundreds of miles away in a different country.
- There are a significant number of Foreign and Commonwealth families who do not speak English as a first language, and whose home cultures can be very different to the British/ BFG military one.
- Integration with German culture and society can be limited.
What We Are Going To Do To Improve The Outcomes For Children And Young People In BFG?
Be Healthy
- Improve access to young people's health services.
- Scope the Government's Healthy Schools initiative for implementation in BFG
- Develop and implement an evidenced-based substance misuse strategy to reduce harm caused by tobacco and alcohol
- Work towards providing appropriate support for teenage sexual health and the prevention of unwanted teenage conceptions.
• Explore the issue of childhood obesity in BFG and develop multi-agency strategies to reduce its incidence.
Stay Safe
- Improve access for all to road safety and cycling proficiency training and active support/encouragement to ensure that bicycles are safe and legal.
- Ensure that all people (paid and volunteer) working with children and young people undergo appropriate child protection/safeguarding children training and are suitability vetted.
- Explore the ways which will support children to reach a basic minimum competency in swimming.
• Monitor and report on all injuries involving children and young people in order that coordinated action and campaigns are provided to reduce accidents and injuries in the future
Enjoy and Achieve
- Support children and young people to access more opportunities on the German net and improve access to garrison facilities.
- Develop integrated information shops in all secondary schools.
- Further improve arrangements both in and between early years and childcare settings.
- Improve information exchange on moving schools on postings.
Make a Positive Contribution
- Have better youth links across BFG with the German youth population.
- Be more flexible in our development of youth provision to be led by those who use it (opening hours, accessibility, type of provision etc).
- Ensure that mechanisms are in place in services for young people - to enable young people to air concerns, make suggestions and to contribute.
Achieve Economic Well-Being
- Increase the opportunities for work based learning.
- Develop the 14-19 curriculum.
- Increase the opportunities for young people to gain independent living skills.
- Develop sources of information available to young people to allow them to make informed choices.
Who Is Supporting This?
In BFG garrisons, the MoD (directly or indirectly) provides all aspects of services to children, young people and families, where it is practicable to do so. In summary this involves:
- Education is provided by Service Children's Education (SCE), an agency of the MoD, whose schools follow the English National Curriculum. SCE offer free nursery education for all three and four year-olds.
- Health needs are met by the British Forces ( Germany ) Health Service (BFG HS). Primary care is directly provided by BFGHS, and is generally accessible with a very short waiting time, at convenient locations. Transport to attend appointments is provided if required. Secondary care is provided through the German Health system and the services of a number of local hospitals are used, with interpreters in place as well as Hospital Liaison Officers.
- The British Forces Social Work Service (BFSWS) provides a statutory Social Work Service through a team of professionally qualified social workers who deliver preventative and safeguarding services to children, young people and their families. This includes the recruitment, assessment, training and support of foster carers, adoption services and work with children and young people who have additional needs and/or a disability, including community care assessments for young carers.
- Welfare support (both personal and community) is provided through the Army Welfare Service (AWS). Out of school activities are overseen by AWS who have teams of professionally qualified youth and community workers based in each garrison providing activities for 5-18 year olds.
- Childcare within BFG is coordinated, on behalf of Garrison Commanders, by AWS. Statutory inspection of childcare settings is delivered by the British Forces Early Years Service (BFEYS).
- BFG has a Local Safeguarding Children's Board , the LSCB, which oversees all work relating to safeguarding of children and has statutory powers. All key agencies are represented and each service has a lead for child protection/safeguarding.
- Community is co-ordinated at garrison level and through the BFG Community Services Strategy and Forum. It includes organisations such as Homestart, Relate, Hives.
- Voluntary support at garrison level includes a number of uniformed (scouts, guides, and cadets) and voluntary community groups and sports clubs.
Getting Involved
One of the key aspects of developing this Plan and using it to make improvements is the involvement of children, young people and their families. If you would like to hear more about the CYPP or to get involved in future work, please do contact one of the Children's Services team at the address below.
More Details
The full C&YP Plan is available from the address below or via the following websites :
www.bfgnet.de or www.hive-bfg.co.uk
Who To Contact
Children's Services Director, C/O G1, HQ UKSC(G), BFPO 140
Telephone : 02161 472 2528 Fax: 02161 472 5681 Email: connx@bfgnet.de
The British Forces Germany Children & Young People's Plan 2006/07
