Changing Children’s Lives: Risks and Opportunities. Young Lives Policy Paper

Children’s development and well-being are significantly influenced by their family and community environment, with poor and marginalised children facing a heavier burden of risk. This paper summarises emerging findings from Young Lives to show how children’s development is shaped by different environmental influences, highlighting the changes that are taking place in children’s daily lives during the first decade of the twenty-first century, including the changing nature of risks and opportunities. It argues that creating a supportive environment for children’s development requires tackling the structural causes of disadvantage with a particular focus on communities where children experience multiple disadvantages. This is the context for the post-2015 environment, and for the development of effective social policies to ensure that ‘no-one is left behind’