4Children

4Children was a charity in the UK focusing on children and families. Formerly the National Out of School Alliance and then the Kids' Club Network, the organisation was formed in 1983 to develop after-school provision following research conducted by Bassac.

4Children ran 88 Sure Start Children’s Centres across the country, 42 nurseries, 21 out of school clubs and provides services in 24 activity centres at Royal Air Force bases in partnership with the RAF Benevolent Fund.

In 1990 the Alliance was re-registered as the Kids’ Clubs Network. There were 300 kids’ clubs in the UK, but the organisation estimated that a total of 25,000 clubs – one in every neighbourhood or near every primary school – were needed. A year later the first regional offices opened in Merseyside and Wales. By 1992 10 regional development projects were operational and the number of kids’ clubs had risen to 600, and in 1994 the 1000th kids’ club was opened in Walsall - an important milestone for the kids’ clubs movement. Kids’ Clubs Network had expanded rapidly in Wales and a Welsh Head Office was established in Cardiff with a national manager heading up a team of local project managers. Tony Blair attended the opening of the 2000th Kids’ Club at Sedgefield Out of School Fun Club. The first ever national campaign day - National Kids’ Clubs Day was launched in on 7 June 1995. Over 600 delegates attended at the 1998 Kids’ Clubs Network’s biggest ever conference. The key note speaker, David Blunkett, spoke about the National Childcare Strategy to improve the provision of childcare in the UK. A

In 2000, Kids’ Clubs Network set up the Childcare Commission – an independent inquiry into the future for childcare and family support. Chaired by the Harriet Harman MP, the Commission published its findings in January 2001.

In 2004 Kids’ Clubs Network changed its name to 4Children. The newly named organisation was officially launched at the organisation’s annual policy conference ‘Tomorrow’s World’ at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster. The following year the charity announced plans to expand their work by running children's centres in partnership with local government. In 2009, 4Children launched the Family Commission, an inquiry which asked 10,000 families their experiences of family life and family policy in the UK. Chaired jointly by Esther Rantzen and Anne Longfield, the report underlined the need for greater understanding in public services for the reality of family life, and successfully called for the extension of Children's Centres.

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