Tag: Children and Families
A King’s ransom: joy for the Junction
Leith-based The Junction youth project has been awarded £30,000 from The King’s Fund. The Junction is the only Scottish project among ten recipients of a GSK IMPACT Award, which recognises excellence in health and wellbeing – and The Junction is one of a very select few to have won the award TWICE!
The GSK community investment programme has been running for 18 years, during which time it has awarded more than £5 million in unrestricted funding to charities across the UK. This year’s winning organisations were selected from more than 350 charities who applied for the GSK IMPACT Awards, which are run in partnership with The King’s Fund.
Winning charities are also given access to a free training and development programme and are invited to join the GSK IMPACT Awards Network. This Network offers previous winners the opportunity to develop their staff and provides a forum to share and learn from each other’s experiences and expertise.
This year’s winners will join more than 60 previous winning organisations from across the UK, who have committed to ongoing professional development, collaboration and delivering outstanding services to patients and communities.
An overall winner, who will receive an additional £10,000 in funding, will be announced at an award ceremony recognising all winners to be held at the Science Museum in London on Thursday 14 May 2015.
The winners were selected by a judging panel of health and charity experts including broadcast journalist Fiona Phillips; Gilly Green, Head of UK Grants at Comic Relief; Sir Christopher Gent, Chair of GSK; and Sir Chris Kelly, Chair of The King’s Fund.
Katie Pinnock, Director, UK & Ireland Charitable Partnerships at GSK, said: ‘These awards recognise charities that make an incredible difference to many people’s lives right across the country. The programme has grown immensely since we started in 1997, and we are extremely proud of the way it has brought people together, enabling them to share knowledge and learn from each other. Each year we are impressed, inspired and moved, not only by the innovation and talent in the work our winning charities undertake, but by the commitment and dedication of everyone involved.’
Sam Anderson, director at The Junction, said: “We are delighted at being a 2015 GSK Impact Award winner. Being a GSK Impact Award winner in 2009 provided the Junction with the platform to celebrate our strengths, develop and deepen. The 2015 GSK Impact Award offers fantastic recognition of all we have achieved in the six years since and provides us with both significant funding and development opportunities which will ensure we are able to continue to flourish.”
Lisa Weaks, Third Sector Programme Manager at The King’s Fund, said: ‘Charities provide important services and support in our health and social care system. These winners show just how much can be achieved with relatively limited funds, through the passion and dedication of the organisations and their volunteers. Their work spans the whole of our lives – they can help prevent young people from making detrimental decisions like taking up smoking, or provide support for people at the end of their lives so they can make the right decisions for them and their family. Their energy and commitment is inspirational.’
A Junction spokesperson added: “We have been named a winner of the GSK IMPACT Awards, and in fact we’re one of the rare organisations that have won twice! Not only is this a huge honour but it is a great way to recognise how The Junction has continued to strive for excellence year after year.”
The ten winners are:
- Alzheimer’s Support – a charity improving diagnosis and support for people with dementia in Wiltshire
- CoolTan Arts – based in Southwark, helps improve the lives of people in mental distress through creativity, self-advocacy and volunteer opportunities
- Cut Films Project/Deborah Hutton Campaign – based in Islington, helps prevent smoking among young people through peer-to-peer education and campaigns
- Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust – based in Islington, is the only UK charity supporting women affected by cervical cancer and cervical abnormalities and focuses activity on raising the profile and understanding of the disease and ways to prevent it
- National Council for Palliative Care – a members’ organisation campaigning to help everyone approaching the end of life have the right to the highest quality care and support
- Neuromuscular Centre – a Cheshire-based charity that provides physiotherapy, training and employment opportunities for those with degenerative neuromuscular conditions, as well as assistance for their carers
- Off the Record – a Bristol-based charity helping young people to improve their mental health and wellbeing
- RESTORE – an Oxford-based charity supporting people with mental health problems to gain or maintain employment
- The Junction – this is the second award for this Leith-based charity, which helps children and young people make positive choices that promote their health and wellbeing and reduce harmful behaviour
- Wave Trauma Centre – a Belfast-based charity offering care and support to anyone bereaved, injured or traumatised through the violence in Northern Ireland.
Spartans benefits from old school ties!
Local businessman Daren Henderson went back to his roots when he presented a £1000 cheque to Spartans Community Football Academy last month. Daren, who owns the Edinburgh Driveway Company, is a Muirhouse laddie, and he handed the cheque over to his old Muirhouse Primary pal – and now Spartans Community youth work manager -Kenny Cameron: the pair were P1s together! (writes Dave Pickering)
Daren explained: “When I watched the Spartand video NEN posted on YouTube (see below) I couldn’t help but listen to the youngsters and think: that was me! I was that young boy with nothing to do but hang around the street corners of Muirhouse and Drylaw.”
Daren immediately decided to support the Spartans Community Football Academy, which provides opportunities for local young people that weren’t so readily available when he and Kenny were growing up.
“The Spartans Community Football Academy is very close to my heart and it was a pleasure to hand over a cheque – this money goes straight into the coffers of the academy and helps take local kids of the streets of North Edinburgh and into much more meaningful activities”, he said. “As an extra, The Edinburgh Driveway Company will be funding go-karting and combat activities as part of Spartans summer programme AND one lucky kid gets to come and work with us for a whole week as part of his/hers work experience to give them that much needed experience of working life.”
Daren’s generosity won’t end here. “This relationship is ongoing and I will continue to support this fantastic organisation – the work they do throughout the whole north Edinburgh community is absolutely second to none.”
Kenny Cameron said: “It was great to see Daren and his support is really appreciated by everyone here at the Academy.”
For more informaton on the Edinburgh Driveway Company visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/theedinburghdrivewaycompany
Dave Pickering
Young dad? A message from DADS ROCK …
Café Life community café attains Breastfeeding Friendly Award
It’s been the law in Scotland for ten years that it is an offence to prohibit a woman from publicly breastfeeding her child. Despite this, many women still feel unwelcome.
NHS Lothian has launched a new initiative to get public places such as café’s to create a policy that breastfeeding mothers will not just be welcomed but actively encouraged to use their facilities.
Café Life, a community café which is part of the charity LifeCare Edinburgh in Stockbridge has recently attained the Breastfeeding Friendly Award.
LifeCare’s Business Relations Manager, Stephen Clarke said: “This award is proof that we do what we say we do. Although we have always welcomed mother’s to breastfeed their child in the café and use our facilities such as our baby changing units this award means that we are recognised as part of a bigger initiative to support the rights of breastfeeding mothers.”
Café Life is used by a cross section of the community such as parents with infants, young adults with learning disabilities, older people, workers and school children.
LifeCare (Edinburgh) Limited is a local charity that works with the elderly, those with dementia and their carers across Edinburgh. Café Life contributes to the services provided by directing any extra income made into them.
Cookery classes at Craigie
One Parent Families Scotland are planning cookery classes for single mums and dads and the kids at Craigroyston Community High School.
The classes will run on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (10am-12.30pm) from 7 – 16 April.
If you would like to improve your cooking skills while learning how to cook nutritious meals on a budget, contact Tom Carroll on 07814 078139 or email: tom.carroll@opfs.org.uk
Circle website’s ‘scot’ to change!
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What?
Our website will change from www.circlescotland.org to www.circle.scot and emails will change to firstname.lastname@circle.scot
Why?
We know that there is sometimes confusion with regard to the name of our organisation, due to our website and email addresses. The name of our organisation is Circle (not Circle Scotland). By changing our website and email addresses to circle.scot, our branding will be more consistent and recognisable.
When?
The change will be made on Thursday 2 April. There may be some disruption to the website and emails over that weekend. Following that, there will be a changeover period whereby the current website address will be redirected to the new one. Similarly, emails will be redirected from the old email addresses for a period of time, after which the old email addresses will become obsolete.
Meet Dionne: Edinburgh’s GIRFEC ambassador!
Seventeen year old Dionne McFarlane is a leading light in the Scottish Government’s GIRFEC initiative. The local girl is in her final year at St Augustine’s High School but she’s also pretty busy delivering presentations and facilitating workshops around children and young people’s issues. Dionne’s been called Edinburgh’s GIRFEC ambassador. What’s GIRFEC? Read on …
GIRFEC (Getting It Right For Every Child) is a consistent way for people to work with all children and young people. It’s the bedrock for all children’s services and can also be used by practitioners in adult services who work with parents or carers.
The approach helps practitioners focus on what makes a positive difference for children and young people – and how they can act to deliver these improvements. Getting it right for every child is being threaded through all existing policy, practice, strategy and legislation affecting children, young people and their families.
For children and their families GIRFEC means:
- They understand what is happening and why
- They have been listened to carefully and their wishes have been heard and understood
- They will feel confident about the help they are getting
- They are appropriately involved in discussions and decisions that affect them
- They can rely on appropriate help being available as soon as possible
- They will have experienced a more streamlined and co-ordinated response from practitioners
For professionals working with children GIRFEC means:
Putting the child or young person at the centre and developing a shared understanding within and across agencies
Using common tools, language and processes, considering the child or young person as a whole, and promoting closer working where necessary with other practitioners
Providing leadership and strategic support to implement the changes in culture, systems and practice required within and across agencies to implement Getting it right for every child
Planning for the transition as staff in agencies move from the current working processes to the new child-centred processes
The GIRFEC approach is based on solid foundations: there are ten core components and a set of values and principles which bring meaning and relevance at a practice level to single-agency, multi-agency and inter-agency working across the whole of children’s services. They can be applied in any setting and circumstance where people are working with children and young people.
The core components are:
A focus on improving outcomes for children, young people and their families based on a shared understanding of wellbeing
A common approach to the proportionate sharing of information where appropriate
An integral role for children, young people and families in assessment, planning and intervention
A co-ordinated and unified approach to identifying concerns, assessing needs, and agreeing actions and outcomes, based on the wellbeing Indicators
Streamlined planning, assessment and decision-making processes that lead to the right help at the right time
Consistent high standards of co-operation, joint working and communication where more than one agency needs to be involved, locally and across Scotland
A Named Person for every child and young person, and a Lead Professional (where necessary) to co-ordinate and monitor multi-agency activity
Maximising the skilled workforce within universal services to address needs and risks as early as possible
A confident and competent workforce across all services for children, young people and their families
The capacity, proportionately and appropriately, to share demographic, assessment, and planning information within and across agency boundaries.
That all sounds pretty complicated – how did a 17 year old girl from Crewe get involved in delivering the GIRFEC message?
“It might sound complicated, but it’s not really”, Dionne said. “It’s really just about making sure the support for the child is always there. IS the child safe? Is the child healthy? It’s about the whole wellbeing of the child – this is about emotional, not educational, support”.
Dionne first got involved almost two years ago, when Minister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell, wanted to find out what wellbeing means to Scotland’s young people. Ms Campbell invited young people to send in either a written piece or a drawing about what wellbeing meant to them.
There were over 300 entries from young people aged between 11 and 15.
“I read up about it and thought that this was something I would be interested in. I entered – my choice of subject was ‘bereavement’ – and I thought that was that. I was busy with other things and had pretty much forgotten all about it when the Scottish Government got in touch to say I was one of twelve winners”.
You can find Dionne’s entry here
http://www.wellbeingforyoungscots.org/about/winners/dionne
Dionne was the only young person from Edinburgh to be invited to Victoria Quay to participate in workshops with the Scottish Government to produce all the information on the www.wellbeingforyoungscots.org/ website. The idea is to tell other young people more about wellbeing and what the Scottish Government is doing to try and make Scotland the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up.
Since then, our Dionne’s been in constant demand – speaking at conferences, helping to formulate policy and delivering presentations all over the country. As a seventeen year old schoolgirl, isn’t it all too demanding? What about exams?
“I’m in sixth year and I have exams and I also have college interviews lined up but everything is okay; I’m able to manage fine. The school is very supportive and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it. I really do love it and it’s a fascinating subject – the work I’ve done with GIRFEC has made me think seriously about a career in social work”.
While spreading the GIRFEC message Dionne has met many high-profile public figures. Who has impressed her most?
“Aileen Campbell (above, with Dionne) was really nice. She is very enthusiastic about the work we are doing and she is also passionate about her brief. I think her attitude rubs off on other people too. She’s just had a second baby so she’s on maternity leave just now. If I had to choose just one person I would have to say Sue Bruce, who is the city council’s Chief Executive. She was really down to earth and showed genuine interest in the work I’ve been doing. She was very easy to talk to”.
And a final message to young people?
“If I could only get out one message, it would be to reassure young people that you don’t have to go through difficult things on your own – whatever problems you are facing there are people to help you. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness – that’s the most important message I would like to get out”.
Preparing and delivering presentations, speech-writing, participating in workshops, then there’s the school studies and college interviews … it’s a schedule that might floor some people, but not Dionne – Edinburgh’s very own GIRFEC ambassador!
For more information on GIRFEC go to:
http://www.gov.scot/Topics/People/Young-People/gettingitright
One Scot in eleven now living in poverty
Having a job is no guarantee of escape from poverty – half of children living in extreme poverty were in households where at least one adult was in full time employment
More than half a million people in Scotland are living in severe or extreme poverty , according to the latest data published today. Scotland’s poorest people lived on less than half the average income in 2012/13, according to a new government report.
Around 510,000 people, including 100,000 children and 80,000 pensioners, are living in severe poverty – households with an income under £11,500. A further 230,000 were classed as living in extreme poverty, which means the household had an income of lower than £9200.
A household is defined as living in relative poverty with an income below 60 per cent of the UK median income. Severe poverty is defined as living with an income lower than £11,500, or 50 per cent of UK median income, while extreme poverty is defined as lower than £9,200, 40 per cent of UK median income.
The scale of the country’s poverty levels has been exposed in the Scottish Government’s Severe Poverty in Scotland report, which shows working age adults and children are more likely to live in severe poverty than pensioners, particularly after housing costs.
Commenting on Severe Poverty in Scotland, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said: “It’s a disgrace that so many people live in such severe or extreme poverty, but it’s an unfortunate and inevitable result of the UK Government’s failed austerity agenda and welfare cuts that are slashing incomes for some of our poorest households.
“With employment increasing and unemployment down, Scotland is outperforming the rest of the UK, yet the statistics show that a job is no longer any guarantee against severe or extreme poverty.
“That’s why we opposed cutting in-work tax credits and why the Scottish Government and its agencies are paying the living wage, encouraging other employers to follow suit.
“We have put tackling poverty and inequality at the heart of Government, through policies like the council tax freeze, free prescriptions, expanding childcare provision, while we are mitigating the worst of the welfare cuts, by replacing income lost through the bedroom tax or council tax benefits cuts.
“That action is making a real difference and we will continue to make the argument for a fairer welfare system.”
The statistics also make clear that being in a job is not a guarantee against poverty. Being in employment does significantly reduce the risk of poverty, but 44% of working age adults in extreme poverty lived in households where at least one adult was in employment, as did 60% of children – half of children living in extreme poverty were in households where at least one adult was in full time employment.
In 2012/13, around 10% of working age adults and 10% of children were living in severe poverty, as were 8% of pensioners.
After housing costs, 16% of working age adults, 15% of children and 6% of pensioners in Scotland are living in severe poverty.
Over the last decade, while the rate of relative poverty has fallen, a greater proportion of households in poverty were in severe or extreme low income in 2012/13.
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Scotland’s Adoption Register – new website launched
Families found for vulnerable children
Vulnerable children are finding adoptive families faster thanks to an improved system for matching prospective parents with youngsters from across Scotland. The new improved website for Scotland’s Adoption Register was launched yesterday.
Innovations to the site – which is run by the British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF) Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government – will help to involve prospective adopters and social workers more directly in the process of finding families for some of Scotland’s most vulnerable children.
The website will build on the progress the register has already had in matching children and prospective adopters. The number of referrals to the register is continuing to grow – and more importantly the number of confirmed matches is increasing at an accelerating pace.
The milestone of 150 matches made was passed in January.
By sharing information more effectively the website will make an important contribution to the process of quickly finding the right match for the children who need adoptive families.
Robin Duncan, Scotland’s Adoption Register Manager said: “There are frustrations about how long the adoption process can take and of how difficult it can be to find families for all the children who need them, but we are very excited by the opportunities the re-launched website brings and the innovations to the Scottish Register will help speed up the matching process to find families for all the children who need them.”
Fiona McLeod, Acting Minister for Children, said: “These improvements to the new website reflect the growing success Scotland’s Adoption Register has had in finding secure, stable and loving homes for some of Scotland’s most vulnerable children.
“The website will arm prospective parents with the information and advice they need to go forward. It is also a great practical resource for social workers who are key in helping to make placements between children who are suitable for adoption and prospective adopters in Scotland.
“When you are dealing with something as deeply personal and life-changing, it is so vitally important to have the necessary information available and in a format as straight forward as possible. This website will enable this to happen as well as assist social workers to provide all the necessary support required.”