About the Children and Families Forum
The Children and Families Forum brings together voluntary, community and non-profit organisations from across West Lothian to help shape and strengthen the support available for children, young people and families.
By working together, we aim to:
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Increase the impact of the Third Sector in planning and delivering services
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Share knowledge, experience and ideas
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Influence local decision-making and strategic priorities
Who can join?
Any voluntary, community or non-profit organisation working with children, young people or families in West Lothian is welcome to become a member.
Why get involved?
The Forum acts as a collective voice for the Third Sector on key strategic groups—such as the Children & Families Strategic Planning Group—ensuring the sector’s insight and experience are heard where it matters most.
Members also have the opportunity to take on representative roles, feeding into important partnership work across the area.
Chair
The Forum is currently chaired by Helen Davis, West Lothian Youth Action Project (WLYAP).
Terms of Reference
The Forum aims to improve the effectiveness and maximise the contribution of West Lothian’s Third Sector to the planning and delivery of services and activities for children, young people and families.
The Forum seeks to encourage and enable communication, participation and co-operation between Third Sector organisations and our partners. It intends to identify policy gaps, promote good practice and raise the profile of relevant issues from a Third Sector perspective to proactively inform and contribute to policy development and service provision, both locally and nationally. The Forum is the membership grouping for any voluntary, community and non-profit making organisations working in West Lothian and wishing to promote the aims of the group
VSGWL are members of the forum and will support the group with administration and communication.
The operation of the Network is underpinned by some key principles:
- Openness and inclusivity
- Peer support
- Representatives who are truly representative of the Sector
- Effective and efficient communication
Network Meetings
There are opportunities for all forum members to participate in information exchange, consultations and networking at meetings. Information and meeting papers are available on the website.
The Forum represents the Third Sector’s views on a range of key strategic groups and partnerships across West Lothian, and aims to ensure that the Third Sector is represented effectively on key partnership bodies, such as the Children & Families Strategic Planning group. Members of the Forum take on representation roles to take part in these groups and ensure the wide-ranging views and areas of work of the Third Sector are well represented. Forum members represent the whole Sector in these roles, and use the Forum meetings and communications with Forum members to collate views and give feedback to the Sector.
