Equality and diversity

Inclusion Champions act as ambassadors for equality, diversity and inclusion within their department or geographic location, sharing best practice and cascading information- ensuring that these equality, diversity and inclusion is at the heart of policy/process and system development. Inclusion Champions aim to ensure that colleagues are talking about equality and diversity and that inclusion is visible throughout all our ways of working and behaviours at work.
Champions meet centrally on a quarterly basis and have local meetings to share practice and idea's. The role consists of:

• Promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Promote personal and professional development.
• Build communication networks.
• Enhance the reputation of Action for Children.
• Act as a role model, actively challenging inappropriate behaviour & practices.
• Raise issues of discrimination and exclusion with appropriate managers.
• Support colleagues to engage in positive conversations about the benefits of equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Act as a knowledge resource for colleagues, taking questions from colleagues and sign posting appropriately.

Inspire aims brings colleagues together from across the UK who have experience of a disability, are caring for family of friends or who have been diagnosed with an illness or are recovering from an illness.

The aims of Inspire are:

* To promote disability equality and ensure staff and volunteers with a disability are fully supported within the workplace.

* To promote the interests of staff with a disability, carers and staff recovering from illness across the organisations.

* To challenge stereotypes by promoting a positive image of staff and volunteers with a disability, carers and staff recovering from illness.

* To raise awareness of non-visible impairments ensuring inclusion of people whose conditions are hidden such as mental health conditions, learning differences, HIV.

Action for Children has an LGBT+ network for staff and volunteers called Celebrate. It has a core committee, who work on its events, communications, and publications, as well as ensuring internal policies and procedures are inclusive and respectful of LGBT+ staff. We're here to make sure Action for Children has a safe, inclusive and diverse working environment, and that equality is high up on everyone's agenda.

When we can be who we really are at work, we perform better, and provide better services, so our network has a direct and positive impact on our work with children, young people and families.
Every staff or volunteer is welcome to join the network - we have around 100 members across all departments at Action for Children, some of which identify as LGBT, and others who are allies and keen supporters of equality and diversity.

Action for Children’s Gender Empowerment Network launched earlier in the year and aims to:

Proactively address and challenge gender inequality through research, collaborative working and effective communication

Communicate messages of equality across the organisation and the external world and support, develop and empower members

The membership team meets face-to-face and virtually so please don’t let location put you off. If you have a passion for gender equality and a desire to see the organisation champion gender empowerment please join us. We meet bi-annually for committee meetings and hold networking events throughout the year. Our next event is in GQS on the 16 November 2017. We are launching more regular member hubs called Gender Matters to discuss topics of gender with your colleagues and there will be a whole host of webinars and training materials to learn more.

“The best thing about chairing this Network is working with, being inspired by and learning from members about how we can empower each other. It’s fantastic to see how change can actually happen when a group of people get together.”  Beth Munby, Chair.

AFC Christian Network is for staff who identify with or have an interest in the Christian faith. The Network provides a platform to build a community of Christian staff in the workplace to support each other, all colleagues and Action for Children’s work, spiritually, intellectually and professionally.

Objectives:

• Fellowship – enable Christian staff to interact for mutual support and growth to live Christian values in the workplace.
• Advice – work with leadership and the Head of Inclusion to promote diversity and inclusion.
• Pastoral care – support the spiritual and emotional well-being of all staff through prayers and value-adding activity.
• Awareness – contribute to excellent service delivery by helping staff understand Christian beliefs and how they can affect our staff and service users.
• Be a door into the community– help Action for Children engage and build effective relationships with all communities to promote and enrich our work

Every fortnight on a Tuesday from 12.30 to 1.00pm, we have a teleconference to pray and share our reflections on what the bible says about the Christian life, especially in the workplace.  The format is simple, enabling us to blend diverse ways people worship so that everyone can enjoy it and benefit from it. Prayers cover thanksgiving, Action for Children's work, the Christian Network, and specific prayers for staff, their friends and family, and AFC supporters. In the past, our reflections have looked at workplace issues and behaviours, and peace. We welcome those who are not in a place where they can freely take part in the conference, and wish to dial in and listen quietly.

The Breakthrough project explores how Action for Children can better recruit, support and develop Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff, to address the under-representation across our workforce.    One of Action for Children’s equality scheme objectives states ‘We will improve the diversity of our workforce and strive towards the most senior levels within the organisation reflecting the broadest possible diversity.’  The 2017 staff survey shows Action for Children employs 11% BAME staff compares to 14% of the UK population, 12% of the Labour Market and 40% in London (Census, 2011).    The third Sector appears to be particularly unrepresentative of the ethnic diversity of the labour market. Only 8.8% of staff working in the third Sector classify themselves as BAME, compared to 10.8% in the public sector, 11.2% in the private sector (NCVO, 2015), and 14% of the UK population. 

The UK population is becoming increasingly diverse. 1 in 4 schoolchildren in primary and secondary school today in England are from a BAME background (Department for Education, 2015). Action for Children must keep pace with the changing population dynamics, look to the future, and ensure that our workplace is an inclusive place, representative of society, free from implicit and explicit discrimination, and able to harness the best diverse talent to deliver services to children, young people and families across the UK. 

Colleagues and volunteers who identify and BAME and allies are invited to join the project.  There are opportunities to join focus groups, have your voice heard through 1:1 and complete a confidential survey.  Please join us!

There are emerging themes across the UK for the children, young people and families.  To keep children safer and happier, the virtual networks share topics, good practice and barriers to achieving our aims.  Family support practitioners work with a wide range of children young people and families and have direct insight into the issues within their communities.  Enable brings together practitioners from across the UK to advocate on behalf of disabled children and young people.

• We meet quarterly (virtually)
• We talk about emerging themes
• We share good practice and barriers to progress
• We network and learn about the work of our colleagues
• We listen, support and never judge

We partner, we collaborate and we share

Join Action for Children’s virtual networks and share the themes and issues within your area of work.  Network, develop and learn more about the work of your colleagues across the UK.

This staff network is for staff in our fostering services to support embedding participation and inclusion with children in foster placements and foster carers.

The network is a virtual group that meets bi-monthly to:

• Be a best practice sharing forum which will encourage participation of children, young people and foster carers in service delivery and support.
• Creation of digital welcome pack for children and young people.
• Create a Young Ambassador scheme with children in care or care leavers. 
• Innovative ways to capture and include children and young people’s views in the service.
• Information gathering and promotion of existing examples of participation in fostering both internally and externally.

Right Choice guidance to include specific examples of how to include children and young people in foster carer and staff recruitment

This is a staff network for staff that explores well-being. An opportunity for staff to virtually come together and share tips, review books and reflect.

Menopause Support Group

There are more than 3.5 million women over the age of 50 currently working in the UK.  Action for Children’s Menopause Support Group brings together women from across the organisation, to talk, support and share.  The group meets bi monthly and also has a private group in which to share tips, messages and to network.