A family has been torn apart for the past 11 months because of the UKVI / Home Office's refusal to abide by a judge's decision that his mum should be granted a visa. A 3 year-old British boy has been shared between his mum in China and his dad in the UK. This is having a detrimental effect on him, he is confused and upset and needs a stable family unit, which was supported by the tribunal judge, who was also fully satisfied that this applicant meets all of the UK Visas and Immigrations requirements for a spouse's visa with a right to a family life in the UK. The Home Office claims that the appeal was abandoned when Mary returned to China whilst the appeal was pending, however, the tribunal permitted the hearing to proceed after Mary submitted a request to them for her husband to represent her. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-38012751?SThisFB http://www.heraldseries.co.uk/news/hswallingfordnews/14922259.Wallingford_family_missing_mum_who_is_stuck_in_China/ http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016-11/28/content_27508080.htm

Put frankly, finances in our West Sussex Schools are at breaking point. If nothing is done there will be severe consequences for our children. Currently headmasters across our county are having to consider and actively plan to take any of the following measures to make ends meet: • Modified opening hours/days • Increasing class sizes even further • Reductions in cleaning • Non-replacement of staff when they leave/retire • A halt in all investment in books and IT ________________________ Did you know: • West Sussex is one of the lowest funded council in the country • West Sussex currently gets between £40m - £200m less than other regions for Education • In nearby Brighton & Hove each school receives £300 per pupil premium if they don't speak english as a first language. West Sussex schools get no extra funding for this. ________________________ Nick Gibb MP (for Bognor Regis & Littlehampton, West Sussex) The response from Nick Gibb has been very disappointing to both the headmasters and his constituents so far. In a letter to a local Head Teacher, dated 2 November 2016, West Sussex MP Nick Gibb (Minister for Schools) wrote: “In 2015- 16 we made a step towards fairer funding by adding £390m to the schools budget, targeted at the least fairly funded authorities, including West Sussex. The additional funding for West Sussex was included in their baseline in 2016-17 and is protected for 2017-18.” In this reply Mr Gibb MP doesn’t appear to be acknowledging the funding crisis in this reply. Especially since the £390m mentioned, West Sussex schools received less than £1m (£930k). This represents an increase of less than £10 per child across West Sussex. ________________________ The Worthless? West Sussex Campaign Head Teachers in West Sussex are currently running to campaign to gain additional interim funding of £20million beginning in the financial year, April 2017 with the Worthless? West Sussex Campaign for fairer funding. They need to do this because of long years of under funding by West Sussex County Council, which has now been compounded by the low level being carried over to the funding now allocated directly from Westminster. In their latest letter they said that despite the assistance of some West Sussex MPs and an debate in parliament (Nick Gibb was not in attendance). You can watch here: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/9b387b6d-28f4-4e0b-9d87-ffd64d3ed678?utm_source=petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=167761&utm_content=Parliament%20TV You can find out more about the WorthLess? West Sussex Campaign on facebook: www.facebook.com/WorthLessWestSussex

28000 low income families have been underpaid in tax credits from 2011-2014. HMRC are refusing to pay monies owed. Caring for a disabled child is a full time job and often compels parents to give up work. Money and time are tight and checking the Government is paying what you are owed is one task too many. The denial of these tax credits has already caused great hardship. To receive it now would make an incredible difference to challenged lives.

I am a disabled stepmother to a beautiful and bright 4 year old who started school this September. As September drew closer, I became excited by the idea of being able to have an active part in his school life, meeting other parents, and even helping out in school. But as I am also a disabled person, this dream has not been so straightforward. Whilst my appeal was upheld by the independent schools' admission appeals panel, this is not the case for all disabled parents who are allocated inaccessible school placement for their child(ren) under Birmingham City Council’s schools admissions policy. Many disabled parents are being given school places at schools that are both inaccessible to travel to and to get around. Had I not been successful with my appeal my stepson would have either had to have been home-schooled (which is not a decision I feel is right for him) or we would have had to pay out for before and after school care that we wouldn't actually need, purely because of being given a school place at a school that wasn't accessible for me to get to. Our case is not isolated. Across the country there are 2.1 million disabled parents, many of whom are either having to fit the bill of expensive childcare that they wouldn't need if they were non-disabled, or travel costs, which are frequently not covered by the local authority. Some disabled parents have even chosen to home school simply because the childcare costs are not sustainable. I believe that Birmingham City Council schools admission policy is both discriminatory and illegal as the city council does not often make reasonable adjustments for disabled parents and carers as is required under the equality act (2010). If Birmingham City Council changed their admissions policy it would be a step towards making disabled parents far more included in their children's education. It would be helpful for the Department for Education’s Schools Admissions Code to include guidance on how councils’ schools admissions policies should comply with their Equality Act 2010 duties around disabled parents request for an accessible school for themselves. This has been recommended on a national level by various charities - including the Alliance for inclusive Education

Why we need to save "Around Poplar Children's Centre" - The centre is the hub, bringing together hundreds of parents and providing invaluable services to people of diverse social and economic backgrounds. - The centre has created a friendly, supportive, welcoming environment for parents who can share their concerns, worries and seek guidance from experienced staff - The centre provides not only children play sessions, but vital services such as health assessments, midwifery and psychotherapy, advice on domestic abuse, getting back to work, as well as important workshops on introducing healthy eating and sleeping habits to the youngest members of Tower Hamlet’s community - It is an indispensable resource, helping new mothers beat post-natal depression, loneliness and isolation. - Keeping this centre open will save money by reducing many GP visits. - At this time of unprecedented development and population growth on the isle of dogs, there has never been a greater demand for this facility for new parents in the area. - In fact it is so busy that several times I have been unable to get in because it was so busy. - The staff in the centre, their knowledge and dedication to childcare, supporting parents in bringing up healthy, confident children is second to none As a new mum, with a premature baby girl, the first six weeks were stressful. Then I discovered the Poplar Children Centre, and the caring, knowledgeable and supportive staff who are always on hand with crucial advice and who have made such a difference for me. My baby is now coming up for 14 months old and we visit the centre 3 times a week. We both love the social activities with other babies and mums. The centre has been key in our physical and emotional well being. Meeting other mums at the centre has been an enormous support too, and I have a great sense of belonging to this community of friends. The centre provides facilities that money can’t buy and it is hard to imagine a better alternative.

Many many lives within the local community have been touched and sadly affected by the incident at Sandilands. It is only right that a permanent memorial is created nearby where Family, friends and further members of the public can come and pay thier respect. It would be the right to do this given the huge sentiment and sorrow within the local community.

Nursery Schools in Tower Hamlets and across the country are under threat of closure due to government plans for the future funding of childcare. State nursery schools have very good outcomes with regard to closing the achievement gap and supporting children with special needs. State nursery schools are legally required to employ highly-qualified teaching staff, who are proven to give young children the best opportunities for academic achievement and enabling social mobility.

In Luton this means our 6 nursery schools will close with approximately 1,300 children losing their nursery.

* To provide critical support to the community & shoppers * To develop childrens development - especially ready for preschool & school in personal, social & communication areas * To support parents with childcare * Because there is no other service like this within Swindon * To provide valuable sessions which bring parents together throughout the community * Affordable party hire facilities for families

We miss our family! Our children miss their grandparents! And we're not the only ones... My family and I are British citizens but my husband originates from a non-EU country where his immediate family (mum, dad and sister) still live. We have two young children and would like for them to see their grandparents at least once a year as we are a close family unit. As non-EU and non-Commonwealth citizens they need to apply for a visa to come to the UK - not to live, but to visit us for a short holiday. This is something that many people from diverse countries have to do each time they want to see their family in the UK. The problem is that our visa application system is complex and expensive to use and authorisation or denial of a visa seems often to be an arbitrary decision, based on tenuous facts. If a visa is not granted the fee is non-refundable, the paperwork is not returned to the applicant and there is no right of appeal. Visas are being denied left, right and centre to immediate family members of British citizens and families are being left to suffer, far from each other. In fact British citizens are being penalised more than their European counterparts, as a European resident living in Britain can bring their extended families over for a visit, any time they like. We are not saying this shouldn't happen, but that British nationals should also be allowed to bring their families over for a visit, without recourse to punishing visa systems that deny even immediate family members entry to the UK, even for a short stay, even when being hosted by their own family and even when they demonstrate strong finances to support themselves. These are people who cannot access benefits or work whilst here, who cannot access NHS services and who contribute to the economy through tourism - they pose no risk and should not form part of any "immigration statistics" for they are not immigrants, but visitors, or tourists. We feel it is unfair and an infringement of our human rights to be denied access to our family - my husbands mother and father - and we call on Amber Rudd to reconsider the strict visa laws in these cases, and allow immediate family members to secure a visit visa with ease and transparency, when they can demonstrate that they are being supported by a resident British national. As British citizens, taxpayers and passport holders, with children born here, with no criminal convictions we believe this is a basic right we should have, it should not be a privilege of a few lucky ones. Please help us to take this campaign further by signing our petition! Thank you.

People who are desperate to start a family are being given the choice of either going without or having to spend their life savings (or going into serious debt) to make their dreams come true. When unfit parents are allowed to produce child after child supported by the government, people who would make great parents aren't even given a chance.

Like the vast majority of this country we are dismayed in the extreme to witness the way certain newspapers have reported the arrival of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from Calais. Far from portraying this as a compassionate and humanitarian response, (not to mention a legal obligation), children have been identified, vilified and impugned by some politicians and parts of the media, much more intent on continuing the increasingly hostile anti-migrant agenda at large during and after the referendum, than treating children with the care and respect for their privacy and their childhoods that they are fully entitled to. The publication of children’s images, no doubt without their informed consent, with disregard for the Independent Press Standards Office Editors’ Code and other media guidelines published by the likes of UNICEF is most harmful and creates a serious risk to these and all other asylum seeking and migrant children. By exposing their images across a global media it puts children and their families at risk of identification by those who would persecute them, it undermines their ability to integrate in the country that is providing them with sanctuary and accuses them of being liars and cheats by pretending to be adults. Age assessment policies and procedures are well established in the UK and have been the subject of much judicial scrutiny all the way to the Supreme Court concerning the practice, accuracy and utility of age assessment methods including those such as dental X-Ray. Sections of the media have chosen to ignore the many sources of detailed information about these controversial practices and instead reached a peremptory conclusion using a crude visual appearance test, long dismissed by the courts as inadequate and inappropriate to serve their own sensationalist ends. The climate of hostility and damaging, negative news stories about asylum seeking children must stop. When a football celebrity expresses his horror at the attitudes at large in certain sections of society and on social media and is in turn vilified for showing compassion for refugee children something has gone terribly wrong. Our media as a whole shares a very high degree of responsibility for creating this dangerous climate. As more children arrive in the UK in the weeks and months ahead, including those under the so called ‘Dubs Amendment’ scheme, we call upon The Children’s Commissioner for England, using the powers invested in her Office under Part 6 of The Children and Families Act 2014, to investigate the UK’s print, audio, visual and digital media’s conduct in relation to these children’s arrival, to examine how and to what extent children’s individual and collective rights have been violated and to report publicly on how the media regulators should strengthen and enforce measures to protect all children’s rights in their work and in their regulatory frameworks. At present the so called ‘independent’ press regulator lacks statutory powers and is constrained by a narrow code of conduct for its complaints framework. This does not meet the interests of children in a way that is consistent with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This is both urgent and long term work. Urgent in sending out a clear message about what is and is not acceptable in how children are represented as a group and individually across our media and long term in establishing a culture of responsible journalism about children and the promotion of their rights. Freedom of expression of our media is a vital pillar of accountability. Protection of children, their rights and interests is not subordinate to that function but equal to it. That means for all children, all of the time.