THIS year AFF has an exciting and important focus on Service children, writes Jilly Carrell, Education & Childcare Specialist (pictured above).
We will be teaming up with the University of Winchester’s Service Children’s Progression Alliance (SCiP) – a partnership of organisations focused on improving outcomes for children from military families, and the Army Welfare Service (AWS) in their capacity to lead the play, youth work and community development for the British Army.
In March and April, we will be researching how we can improve outcomes for your children, as well as celebrating their achievements and ability to adapt to complex challenges. We are looking forward to you playing a big part in this first-of-its-kind research – ‘Youth Voice’ – and we are working with AWS to make sure we hear from Service children across the globe.
We really want to ask your youngsters what it’s like to be a Service child in 2019 – the good and the bad. How do they feel their unique and often challenging experiences shape them as a person? What do they think about their parents’ roles and about their absences due to deployments? Do our young people feel they are advantaged by being an Armed Forces child?
There’s currently a swell of interest from research organisations and charities into what it means to be a Forces child and what would be the best support for them. But without their lived experience and unique perspective, the picture would not be complete.
We are looking forward to hearing from your Service children. Thank you for being a part of it!