Rowan Williams writing in The Guardian:
Perhaps today’s report [from the Children's Society's Good Childhood Inquriy] will pose the toughest challenges so far. Its findings are about lifestyle, and they deal with, among other things, attitudes to alcohol, drugs and sex, revealing that the vast majority of children and young people approach these issues with a high level of common sense. But the lack of safe public space – where the young can go and gather, away from both school and home – is a striking and repeated complaint. Leisure facilities targeted at the young are often hopelessly under-resourced and, for children living outside the urban or suburban environment, the cost of public transport means that the options are severely limited.
The Children’s Society’s press release is here, and it looks like the report should be available from here (but isn’t up just yet).
The findings, as outlined by the Archbishop, will be familiar to anyone who has spent time listening to children and young people; the call for more facilities and places to go has certainly been a constant in all the work I’ve done with young people over the last 8 years.
Further reading:
- Getting Serious About Play – A Review of Children’s Play – The Dobson Review (2004)
- Ten Year Youth Strategy – DCSF (2007)
- The use and impact of dispersal orders – JRF (2007)
Filed under: Drug Education Forum Members , Children's Society, Good Childhood Inquiry, Rowan Williams
