Well-being objective 1: Help to give every child the best start in life and improve their early life experiences
Why is this objective important?
Giving every child the best start in life is crucial to reducing inequalities across the life course.
Children who experience stressful and poor quality childhoods are more likely to experience poor mental health and develop long term health problems as they move into adulthood.
What happens during these early years has lifelong effects on many aspects of health and well-being - from obesity, heart disease and mental health, to educational achievement and economic status.
There is a growing recognition of the detrimental impact which exposure to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in childhood, particularly multiple ACEs, can have upon physical and mental health and well-being, relationships with others, educational attainment and prosperity outcomes into adulthood.
Looked After Children (LAC) are more likely to have been exposed to high rates of Adverse Childhood Experiences associated with poor long-term outcomes before entering care.
Why should this concern us?
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have harmful impacts on health and well-being across the life course. For every 100 adults in Wales, 47 have suffered at least one ACE during their childhood and 14 have suffered 4 or more. Children who experience stressful and poor-quality childhoods are more likely to adopt health harming behaviours. (National Survey of ACE's in Wales)
Children in workless households are more likely to experience ACE’s. 8.7% of children in Carmarthenshire are living in workless households, this is lower than the 2017 figure of 10.2% and is currently below Wales (12.6%) and the UK (10.5%).
In Carmarthenshire there are currently 70 children on the Child Protection Register, 148 Looked After Children and 839 children in receipt of care and support (@ 14/12/20).
