An extra £2.5 million in government funding to help charities and other groups support families going through relationship breakdown has been announced today (8 March 2015) by Steve Webb, Minister with responsibility for child maintenance.
Scotland’s Family Decision Making Service partnership is one of sixteen trial Innovation Fund projects to have been providing tailored support across the country helping separated parents work together for the benefit of their children since 2013. The new funding means they will now be extended until September.
Projects include specialist support to teenage parents working with their children’s grandparents, face-to-face services for separated parents caught up in long-term disputes, and tailored help for Muslim families who are experiencing relationship breakdown.
Minister for Child Maintenance Steve Webb said: “Family breakdown can be difficult for everyone involved, but the evidence shows that children stand a much better chance of getting on in life when their parents are working together.
“This funding will allow these projects to continue their excellent work by helping parents to put aside their differences for their children’s sake.
“We are starting to see some very encouraging results from these projects which will be invaluable when it comes to designing future services and are proving priceless for the families being helped.”
Children 1st’s Family Decision Making Service (Scotland) has worked with more than 1500 individuals since it’s launch.
This bespoke service provides support to parents 365 days a year over the telephone or through live webchat. It draws upon the expertise of three organisations: Children 1st, Scottish Child Law Centre and One Parent Families Scotland.
Assistant director Linda Jardine said: “This extra funding is good news for separated and separating families in Scotland.
“Children cope better with family break-up if their parents work together on the decisions which affect them, and through the Family Decision Making service parents are able to draw on the combined expertise of three partners to help them to do this.
“So far the service, which is unique in Scotland, has worked with more than 1,500 individuals to make sure that, whatever difficulties the adults may be experiencing, their children remain the focus.”
Part of the DWP’s work on relationship support, the projects were originally set up to work alongside the new Child Maintenance Service, which is taking a fresh approach to tackling the issue of family breakdown.
More than 6 out of 10 separated parents using the new Child Maintenance Service are now choosing to make their own financial arrangements rather than relying on the state to collect and pay maintenance on their behalf.
At the heart of the reforms lies the principle that children have a much better start in life when both parents work together across a range of issues including contact, schooling and finances – even if they have separated.
The third party organisations delivering the projects were encouraged to come up with new and innovative ways of delivering the support.
Each of the projects is unique in the type of support that they offer, which can be delivered through face-to-face sessions, over the telephone and online.
Some of the projects target specific groups, such as teenage parents, people on low incomes and families with diverse cultural background. Practical guidance is also offered on a range of matters including legal advice.
A total of £10 million was set aside to fund the various projects when they were introduced in 2013. The results from the projects will be used to design future government services.
The Innovation fund projects are:
Howells: Working Together for Children (South Yorkshire)
Family Lives (Leicester, Waltham Forest, Gloucestershire)
Resolution: Family Matters (Doncaster, Wakefield, Scunthorpe, Grimsby, Retford)
Sills and Betteridge: Moving Forward (Lincolnshire)
Mediation Now: Changing Lives (Hampshire and Portsmouth)
Spurgeons: Supporting separated teenagers (West Midlands and Warwickshire)
Changing Futures North East: Moving On (Teeside, Sunderland and County Durham)
Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships: Parents In Dispute (London)
Children 1st: Family Decision Making Service (Scotland)
Pinnacle People: Families Together (Bristol)
Malachi Family Support Services (Birmingham and West Midlands)
One plus One: Splitting Up? Put Kids First (nationwide)
National Family Mediation: At Court Mediation (Hereford and Worcester, West Yorkshire and Berkshire)
Family Matters Mediate: Listening to Children Matters (Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire)
