BIG Awards 1.7 million pounds to improve children's life chances in Wales

Two Welsh projects are sharing in more than £15.2 million awarded by the Big Lottery Fund to ground-breaking projects across the UK which support young children growing up in very difficult circumstances and to help transform their life chances.

Barnardo’s Cymru and the Carmarthenshire Youth and Children’s Association are among the 17 UK projects to have been awarded grants under the first round of BIG’s Improving Futures programme, which will provide up to £26 million for more joined-up and earlier support to families with multiple and complex problems.

BIG’s backing will see families being offered tailored support from local voluntary sector organisations working in partnerships with public services. Each partnership will receive up to £900,000 over three to five years to work with families whose eldest children are aged five to ten years old. Around 8,000 families will benefit from this round of awards.

The programme will see some of the largest charities working together with some of the smallest community organisations and local public services to trial a range of family interventions. Some projects will involve rolling out evidence-based parenting programmes, redesigning services on an area-wide basis or reaching out in new ways to those families who are most marginalised or under the radar.

With their grant of £867,114, Barnardo’s Cymru, working in partnership with Action for Children and Cardiff City Council to support 500 families in Cardiff over three years. The Eleri project (named after a member of the project team’s young daughter who was born just before the application was submitted) will support children, young people and their families with the most complex needs who frequently are at risk of being in the revolving door cycle of provision. The support will empower the families to take control and change their lives, and help turn lives around.

Sally Jenkins, Assistant Director for Barnardo’s Cymru and Project Co-ordinator for Eleri, said: "Grassroots services that help prevent vulnerable children and families from getting into difficulties are key to making sure we don't store up problems for society in the future. The voluntary sector has an important role to play in reaching out to children and families with multiple needs, and avoid escalation into costlier intervention and support in the future.

"This project is a good example of two well established children’s charities working together in Wales planning for the future to make a real difference to families’ lives. Early intervention for children in difficulty is crucial and the emphasis has been on providing support for older children and parents until now. This meant some families had to wait until their problems were more serious before getting the help they needed."

A grant of £890,978 awarded to the Carmarthenshire Youth and Children's Association will enable them to run the Securing Futures project over four years. The project, due to start on May 1^st, aims to address the requirements of families having parents experiencing learning disabilities or low to moderate mental health problems. Through a range of integrated and holistic services delivered by a number of services and agencies best equipped to meet specific support needs, the project will support 260 families across Carmarthenshire and will work in partnership with Carmarthenshire County Council.

Looking forward to getting the project underway, Tracy Pike, Association Manager with Carmarthenshire Youth & Children's Association (CYCA), said: "In the current financial climate we are seeing more and more families plagued with debt which then impacts on their wellbeing. Therefore, by working with families with low level mental health problems (mental distress) such as mild depression and anxiety we can hopefully prevent them from becoming an adult mental health statistic. Also, with child poverty high on government agendas, this project will support these children who may be marginalised due to their parent’s problems. Working with children at a younger age can certainly be more effective than waiting until they reach adolescence - proactive instead of reactive."

Highlighting the importance of the funding, Sir Adrian Webb, Big Lottery Fund Wales Chair and UK Board Member, said: "We all know that children's life chances are affected by the environment they are born into. Some families are dealing with complex issues of poor housing, long term unemployment, drug and alcohol misuse and various health problems. These are largely adult issues but they have serious consequences for their children's lives."

"Children who live in and around these families tend to do less well in school, tend to have poorer health and can often grow up to have similar problems themselves. To improve the life chances of those children, joined-up support is needed across the whole family."

He added: "This programme is about innovation and finding successful, cost effective ways of helping those families, so that their problems don’t escalate into crisis. The thorough evaluation accompanying this work will help ensure that what we learn benefits children and their families well beyond the projects themselves."

Naomi Eisenstadt, original architect of the Sure Start programme and one of the experts who helped BIG design the Improving Futures programme, said: "What is really important about Improving Futures programme is that it's going to focus on children aged five to ten years old, who are at the moment frequently being overlooked in terms of support.

"The primary school age is a crucial stage in childhood development, when problems can still be corrected before they become too entrenched. If you can reach children in this age group, there is still a good chance of turning their lives around and giving them a better future. I am delighted that the Big Lottery Fund has made this commitment and I am sure it will make a real difference."