Действия ради детей: Помощь уязвимым детям и семьям в Великобритании.

United Kingdom children's charity

Action for Children (formerly National Children's Home) is a UK children's charity created to help vulnerable children and young people and their families in the UK. The charity has 7,000 staff and volunteers who operate over 475 services in the UK. They served a total of 671,275 children in 2021 and 2022. Action for Children's national headquarters is in Watford, and it is a registered charity under English and Scottish law. In 2017/2018, it had a gross income of £151 million.

The NCH set up a child emigration scheme in 1873, and a branch in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, opened. This program of sending children to Canada, where they were called Home Children, has been criticized, and children have been found to have been abused following migration. The NCH itself has said that "the experience of migration was profoundly damaging to significant numbers of the children concerned". The Independent Inquiry found that some children were sent by the NCH without their parents' consent, and that some children who wanted to come back to the UK were not allowed by the NCH to do so.

Action for Children runs specialist projects for disabled children and those with learning and behavioral difficulties. These include residential care, short breaks and respite care services, keyworker support for families and caregivers, and advocacy work to help young disabled people transition into adulthood.

Action for Children is a registered adoption agency that delivers fostering programs. The charity also runs a number of small residential units for children and young people, as well as supporting young care leavers moving into independent living.

Action for Children works with vulnerable and disadvantaged young people. Issues these young people may face include alcohol and substance misuse, anti social behaviour, homelessness, and unemployment. Other services offer support for young carers, teenage parents, victims of sexual abuse, and those leaving young offenders institutions. This support is provided through a range of services, which offer counseling, help with housing and benefits, access to training and education, basic skills tuition, mediation, and mentoring.

Action for Children runs a number of schools for children and young people with disabilities, profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD) and challenging behaviour (including social or emotional problems). The charity's aim is to offer a secure environment in which to facilitate educational, social and personal development adapted to pupils' individual abilities. The schools offer both residential placements and day care.

Action for Children carries out and commissions research into issues around children, young people and families. The charity also produces a yearly Impact Report, which details research findings on the outcomes and cost effectiveness of its work supporting children and young people.

Action for Children campaigns and lobbies governments on behalf of vulnerable children and young people and their families. One of the charity's current campaigns, 'Best Start in Life', seeks to address the issue of children – particularly those from poorer backgrounds – struggling to receive the right early years support. The campaign calls on the government to take urgent action so that children under five do not fall behind, either due to cuts in vital services or unequal access to opportunities. Action for Children is a member of the Disabled Children's Partnership alongside 27 other charities, working towards better health and social care for disabled children, young people and their families. The charity also leads the children and families work of the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness and is a partner of End Child Poverty. Action for Children is a founding member of Fostering Through Social Enterprise (FtSE), a consortium of voluntary and non profit fostering agencies that advocate for children in respect of regulation, as well as representing its membership at central government level.

Action for Children raises money through corporate partnerships, fundraising events (such as sponsored runs) and through its partnership with the British Methodist Church. The charity is also involved with several large fundraising events, including Byte Night – an IT industry event which raises money to prevent youth homelessness – and Never Mind The Business, a music based quiz night for business people. In 2018, Action for Children launched its Secret Santa fundraising campaign. The campaign encouraged the public to become a Secret Santa for a vulnerable child, donating £10 or more to support children in the UK at Christmas. Because of its links to the Methodist Church, which opposes gambling, before 2003 Action for Children did not accept National Lottery funding. In 2000 and 2002, the organisation was criticised, including by its own staff, for accepting funding from BAE Systems, an arms manufacturer.