News
Reaching more children
15/09/2009
This year the Dundee Family Support Service has launched a number of new initiatives that will help reach children and young people who have slipped through the net or not had the help they need.
Clare, Kristy and Jane, workers from the project, took time out of a very busy day to provide an insight into these new projects and the real differences they want to make to children's lives.
CHILDREN 1ST received funding from Inspiring Scotland to start a number of new projects throughout Scotland. In Dundee, they will be supporting teenagers who are underachieving in school and seem likely to leave school with no qualifications due to lack of motivation, hope and family support. The Family Support Service wants to give them that motivation and hope. But it is not just about the young people, they will also involve the young person's family.
Clare highlighted the importance of this additional element to their work: "The family environment can have a real and lasting impact on the young person's ability to achieve their potential. We will support the young people and their families to plan and make positive steps together." Included in this work is mentoring, group work and working closely with other agencies, which can help young people to find a range of opportunities, for example volunteering.
Added to this, the service will offer a befriending service to the young people. This means they will have an adult in their life that can introduce them to new experiences and encourage them to fulfil their potential.
We can all think of examples from our life where a teacher or youth worker motivated us to better things and that is what we hope from the befriending part of the service. Clare gave a clear picture of how they will measure success in their work: "We want to help young people to have happier family relationships and become successful learners. This will increase their confidence and belief in their own skills and abilities. We hope the end result is young people who will become positive role models in their community and that they can take the next step towards employment."
CHILDREN 1ST has long known that agencies must work together to improve the lives of children and it is an area that it has spoken out on over a number of years. Lloyds TSB Foundation for Scotland has also recognised the importance of this and is funding a new service, which aims to find those children that, too often, slip through the net.
It is a sad fact that the lives of many children are being damaged by the devastating effects of their parent's drug misuse. Working with Tayside substance misuse services, CHILDREN 1ST will attend services where adults are getting help with their drug misuse. The workers of the adult services will identify where there are children and an appointment will be made for them to meet with CHILDREN 1ST.
CHILDREN 1ST will provide practical support, for example ensuring that the child is registered with a doctor, dentist and attending school. Kristy described how practical, that support can be: "A family I was working with wanted to get in touch with relatives they had lost contact with. I helped them write the letter. This loss of contact was something that distressed them and now they feel they have taken action to make things better. It is these small steps that can improve people's self esteem."
Jane explained how they hope to reach families: "This service doesn't stigmatise parents. It is for everyone who has children who uses the addiction services. We are saying - you are trying to change your life to make it better for you and your children. We want to help you to do that."
The project will work to increase the parent's ability and skills to care for their children and give them their confidence back. At the same time, it will work with them to face the reality of how their drug or alcohol misuse affects their children Jane added: "This is double edged prevention. The adult addiction services pick up people who may have eluded the services for a long time. Often parents are scared to get in touch because of the worry of losing their children. But once we are in touch with the family we can stay in touch to ensure that the situation does not get worse."
Last updated: 17/09/2009
