Community of Practice (FINAL)

Learning Well – Realising the vision for Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (TrACE)-informed education in Wales

Falling from the Sky: Voices of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in local authority care in Wales

The report and its findings will feed directly into the implementation of the Trauma-Informed Wales Practice Framework. The Framework, published in 2022, sets out five underpinning principles of a trauma-informed approach in Wales, including a commitment to being inclusive of the experiences of adversity and trauma in all our communities. The report contributes to an established body of work commissioned by ACE Hub Wales to support this commitment. The collection of studies considers how adversity and trauma is experienced by children and young people on the move in their home country, during the migration journey and in Wales.

The focus is on the many positive attributes children and young people demonstrate to overcome the impact of their experiences on mental and physical wellbeing; and the identification of person-centred support needed for improved health and social outcomes. The report also speaks directly to the Wales Safeguarding Procedures requirement of being child-centred and ensuring young people’s voices are heard.

Understanding the issues which may be contributing to racial disparity within Pre-Court Diversionary approaches in Wales for all groups of people, with a focus on Women and Children

Wales is taking the next step in its mission to build a truly anti-racist criminal justice system, with newly commissioned research outlining the realities faced by women, children and young people from ethnically diverse backgrounds and setting out practical recommendations for change.

The findings, published in the Racial Disparity in Pre-Court Diversion Report, highlight several factors contributing to the under-representation of ethnic minority people receiving Out of Court Resolutions, which means they may go on to receive heavier sentences. The research was carried out by Mark Jones, Director at Higher Plain and Honorary / Visiting Professor at Swansea University and University South Wales and reveals possible causes for racial disparity in accessing the criminal justice system, such as a lack of trust in the justice system and the need for more culturally competent services. It also calls for a nationally agreed model of anti-racist, trauma-informed practice across Wales. The report, which provides recommendations on how criminal justice agencies can work to increase the proportion of ethnic minority people accessing diversionary opportunities, builds on the Criminal Justice Anti-Racism Action Plan for Wales (2022), which is all part of a wider cross-government push to create an Anti-Racist Wales by 2030.

These new approaches aim to reduce the impact and trauma of arrest, promote restorative justice, and help individuals make positive life choices around education, employment, and wellbeing.