The Children in Wales report, Families not areas suffer ruraldisadvantage: Support for rural families in Wales, looks at the issuesfaced by disadvantaged families. It argues that increased costs inproviding rural services need to be met by more flexible and equitableGovernment funding. Factors such as time management should be included,and longer-term funding should be given to back community networks.
Poverty and social exclusion or isolation in rural Wales wereundeniable, according to the report. There were also difficultiesjustifying provision of rural services with larger deprived areaswinning grants.
Recommendations included ensuring that good public transport was'designed in' to new developments, reaching out to new migrants throughfamily centres, and taking account of pockets of deprivation locatedwithin more affluent areas.
Lucy Akhtar, parenting development officer at Children in Wales, said,'Agencies interviewed as part of the study felt that while families hada general satisfaction with rural living, services to support familiesin their parenting role are patchy. Agencies highlighted a number ofissues faced by families, including problems accessing services, leisureopportunities and welfare advice. Many families' problems wereexacerbated by the lack of affordable transport and struggling on alow-income. Families with a disabled child had particular problemsaccessing suitable services locally.'
The report also explored best practice across Wales, concluding thatpartnership working at a local and a cross-county level were essentialto providing better services.
