Here you’ll find the blog and newsletters of the Children’s Commissioner for Wales.
Rocio Cifuentes became the Children’s Commissioner in April 2022.
February Newsletter
A meeting with young people who had fled their home countries, welcoming new advisory panel members, and other news and events from February.
The problem with learner travel
Imagine a daily commute. It starts early, and at this time of year the sun has barely risen over the horizon. Some pavements and paths are lit by streetlights; some aren’t. It’s a journey of several miles, and involves a change of public buses in a busy urban area. You might well have a similar commute…
Reflecting on 2023
The Commissioner reflects on the last year
November Newsletter
Racism in Schools This week we published our new report, ‘Take it seriously’:children’s experiences of racism in secondary schools. This report examines the experiences of children and young people in Wales and shows that, sadly, very many children and young people experience racism and racist incidents within secondary school,…
October Newsletter
Ysgol Maes y Dderwen This month Rocio and two members of the team visited Ysgol Maes y Dderwen’s Equality and Inclusion Group to hear the voices of young people about equality issues facing them in their daily life. They discussed the challenges of living in a rural area, and…
A secure place to call home
Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) sets out that all children have a right to an adequate standard of living. Welsh Government have recently consulted on how to secure a path towards adequate housing. But, what does the phrase ‘adequate’ mean…
September Newsletter
Commissioner gives evidence to the Equality and Social Justice Committee The Commissioner gave evidence to the Equality and Social Justice committee on their focused inquiry on Welsh Government’s draft child poverty strategy. A key message from the Commissioner is that Welsh Government must comprehensively revise their draft strategy. It…
August Newsletter
Commissioner’s response to HIW announcement on Hillview Mental Health Hospital This month Rocio responded to the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) announcement on Hillview Hospital has had its registration suspended. The full statement is available on our website. National Play day On the 2nd of August we celebrated National Play…
July Newsletter
Commissioner responds to free school meals announcement This month Rocio responded to the Welsh Government’s announcement that they will be reducing out-of-term free school meal provision and the schools essentials grant. In her response the Children’s Commissioner reflected that children and young people told us in our Ambitions for…
June Newsletter
Launching our Three Year Strategy Last month we published our new three-year-strategy, outlining what we’ll do over the next three years to protect and promote children’s rights in Wales. The strategy sets out our vision, our mission and our purpose to help make life better for children and young…