HUNDREDS of young Islanders have shared their views about life in Jersey to help shape the new children’s commissioner’s strategic plan for the next four years.
Concerns over access to mental-health support, cost-of-living pressures and a lack of things to do were among the recurring themes from a consultation unveiled by the commissioner, Dr Carmel Corrigan.
Feedback from more than 800 young Islanders highlighted the need to address poverty in the Island, while there were also calls for children to stop being placed outside of Jersey when being taken into care. Another submission drew attention to the racism faced by some students.
After six months as the children’s commissioner, Dr Corrigan is publishing the strategy today, which she described as “realistic, but also ambitious”.
Ten years after Jersey became a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – an anniversary that will be marked during a series of events later this year – children’s rights are highlighted repeatedly among seven “strategic pillars” for the next four years.
Dr Corrigan said she would be working to promote awareness – and protection – of children’s rights, involving children in decisions and holding government to account on relevant issues, notably the incorporation of the UN convention into Jersey law. International engagement and making her office “an effective and efficient human rights organisation” were other areas listed, with detailed implementation plans due to accompany each pillar.
“The strategy is a statutory duty, but it’s also a really good opportunity to ‘check in’ with children, learn about the issues they are facing and how their views have changed, and where we can effect the most positive change,” she said.
While many themes persisted from the previous strategic plan, produced in 2019, Dr Corrigan said some were more prominent.
“There’s definitely an increased emphasis on poverty and the cost of living – lots of those we spoke to, including primary-school pupils, were concerned about how families could make ends meet,” she said.
“Mental health featured a lot, especially from those aged 13 to 17, and there’s clearly still work to be done on the lack of things to do, especially for older children and during the winter months.”
As well as 835 responses from those aged under 18, the commissioner’s survey elicited another 230 submissions from older Islanders.
Dr Corrigan told the JEP that an essential part of making sure the strategy was implemented successfully would be collaboration with other organisations: not only the government and the Education Department, but also the likes of Andium Homes and the Probation Service, third-sector organisations and fellow “arms-length” bodies such as the Jersey Care Commission.
“My office is a small one, with seven staff, and we can’t build playgrounds or grant planning permission for new youth projects or recruit staff to work in education or mental-health roles – we need to work together with other bodies and have a positive influence on those who can bring about change,” she said.
World Children’s Day on 21 November will be used by Dr Corrigan’s office as an opportunity to involve a group of young people in presenting the strategy and highlighting work to protect children’s rights since Jersey signed the UN convention in 2014.
