Plan to help Wolverhampton's children lead happy lives

Its goals include getting more parents into work, cracking down on drugs and alcohol abuse and tackling childhood obesity.

The Children, Young People and Families Plan 2015-2025 identifies four priorities the various organisations that make up Wolverhampton Children's Trust must tackle over the next 10 years.

The action areas are child poverty; health; family strength; and education, training and employment.

Councillor Val Gibson, the city's children and families boss, said: "The Children, Young People and Families Plan is a hugely important document as it sets out the steps that the council and its partners must take to help more children, young people and families in Wolverhampton live healthy, happy lives.

"We've seen some real successes over the last few years and this plan aims to build on those achievements as we set our targets even higher."

The new document replaces the previous Wolverhampton Children, Young People's Plan, which was launched in 2011.

Its aims include:

* Improving the health, education, employment and living conditions of children and families living in poverty, including getting more parents into work

* Increasing achievement and involvement in education, training and employment, including improving pupils' readiness for school, attendance, education provision and the delivery of special educational needs and disabilities reforms.

* Improving the resilience of families by increasing their skills, reducing neglect, domestic violence and substance misuse and supporting parents suffering from poor mental health.

* Improving the health of children, young people and families by ensuring that fewer children are obese, more children survive infancy, fewer parents have mental ill-health and fewer children and young people misuse substances.

Around 170 people representing organisations across the city, including the council, emergency services, healthcare providers and charities, attended the launch of the Plan at Bilston Town Hall last week.

The Children's Trust comprises the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Wolverhampton City Council, Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group, Wolverhampton School Improvement Partnership Board, Black Country Partnership Foundation Trust, Wolverhampton Voluntary Sector Council, West Midlands Police, City of Wolverhampton College and Wolverhampton Safeguarding Children Board.

The Children's Trust Board will update the organisations regularly on progress, while the action plan will be reviewed on an annual basis.