“A life of choice and opportunity for every child”
—That’s what we’re striving for
The Children's Commissioner for England reports that only a third of children with a probable mental health disorder are able to access treatment 🔗.
This is partly due to services not communicating effectively, with less than half of local authorities linking data on all children in their area, leading to families having to repeat their stories and sometimes falling through the cracks 🔗.
What’s happening?
Across England, too many children grow up facing barriers they didn’t create and can’t overcome alone. These aren’t just barriers of poverty or postcode; they are barriers created by the way our systems are designed.
Support for children is fragmented. Services struggle to understand each other. Help often arrives too late. Relationships are undervalued. And local leaders—those who know their communities best—often feel disempowered by short-termism and rigid accountability.
Why does it matter?
Children don’t experience life in silos, but support is often delivered as if they do. A child struggling with attendance might be known to four different services and still feel alone. A parent might be referred from housing to behaviour to SEND without ever being seen as a whole person.
The result is a system that doesn’t lack effort but lacks coherence. Even the most committed professionals are forced to operate in ways that feel disconnected, conditional, or confusing for families.
What are we doing about it?
We are cultivating local leadership
We believe that the people closest to the challenge hold the insight—and the power—to create new systems that serve children better.
That’s why we invest in bold, long-term leadership—supporting people to lead with courage, clarity and commitment across schools, services, and sectors.
We are catalysing place-based models
We believe the work isn’t to deliver better interventions but to build better systems. Real progress comes when support is shaped around children and their families, not around service boundaries.
That’s why we help our partners design systems that start with what children and families experience, and embed a culture of listening, reflection, and learning to keep adapting as needs evolve.
We are connecting people and ideas
We believe that no one person or institution can solve complex problems like these alone. If they could, they would.
That’s why we support our partners to play a convening role in their communities—bringing together services, sectors, and life stages to ensure children experience support as one coherent offer, not a maze.
