First Minister Rhodri Morgan and Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, Jane Hutt will tell delegates of the International Forum on Child Welfare, which is being held in Cardiff next week, about progress Wales is making in the fields of Child Welfare and early years development.
The First Minister is to make the opening address at WorldForum 2008, which is co-hosted by Children in Wales, at City Hall on Monday September 29th at 10.30am while the Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, will also address the forum on Wednesday October 1st
The conference will consider the best ways of intervening early when children have needs in a range of situations including child protection, disability, youth justice, education.
In addition to over 300 professionals, the conference will also bring young people from Hungary, Cyprus, Germany and Wales together for a six day programme in which they can highlight their own experiences.
The First minister said:
This prestigious conference is coming to Wales for the first time so it will provide a great opportunity for delegates from around the world to see for themselves how Wales is successfully implementing policy initiatives in the fields of education and child welfare, such as Flying Start for the 0-3 age group, the Foundation Phase for the 3-7 year olds and the introduction of a Children’s Commissioner. It will also be a great opportunity for delegates to share examples of good practice in these fields.
Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills said:
I am honoured to be addressing the forum in this hugely important event. By studying international best practice and learning from other countries we have successfully developed initiatives such as Flying Start and the recently implemented Foundation Phase.
We are committed to providing the children of Wales access to happy, healthy and fulfilled lives. We are eager, through this conference to be able to share our experiences of how to tackle issues that may prevent any child fulfilling their potential, and hope to enrich our own knowledge at the same time.
