A fair proportion of the organisations that we support are committed to the protection and well-being of children. As it’s back to school week, this article is dedicated to all things related to the welfare of children on the Wirral.
- KIND has worked tirelessly to find new ways to help children and families across Liverpool and Merseyside cope with the effects of poverty and disadvantage.
- PLACED Environmental Academy, is a FREE youth-led programme of activities, events and professional development opportunities for young people currently in Years 9 – 12 who live in the Liverpool City Region (Liverpool, St Helens, Wirral, Sefton, Halton, Knowsley).
- Open Door’s Horizons art programme introduces young aspiring artists to new skills and ways of thinking. Throughout the sessions there is an emphasis on exploration, experimentation, fun and play.
- Koala North West exists to provide children and their families with tailored practical and emotional support that improves wellbeing, reduces isolation and supports both children and care-givers to thrive.
- Wirral HSIS is funded by the Wirral Public Health Service providing support and counselling to young people.
- NYAS (National Youth Advocacy Service) provides advocacy and legal representation to children and vulnerable adults when important decisions are being made about them. The children and young people NYAS work with might be in care, have a disability or special needs, be subject to child protection plans, have mental health difficulties or their parents might be separating.
- Adoption Matters is a registered children’s charity and one of the largest voluntary adoption agencies (VAA) in the UK. They recruit, train and support individuals and families as adopters and offer them ongoing support and training for as long as they need it.
- The Hive Youth Zone named by young people as ‘The Hive’, is a purpose-built facility for the borough’s young people aged 8 – 19, and up to 25 for those with disabilities. The Youth Zone provides its members with somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. In the surrounding wards of The Hive, there are high concentrations of childhood deprivation with at least 1 in 3 children living in poverty. These areas correlate strongly with other known deprivation markers. The fantastic facilities at the Youth Zone include a climbing wall, boxing gym, music suite, salon, art room, rooftop football pitch and sensory room. The Zone’s qualified youth workers support young people across a range of issues, from mental health and healthy relationship workshops to help to find work and gaining experience.
A Helping Hand:
These organisations are for children who have experienced neglect, or serious illnesses, and for their families who need that extra help:
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Wirral Women and Children’s Aid offers refuge and a range of services for women and children who have been domestically abused, such as:
- ACEs Programme – Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are traumatic events occurring before age 18. ACEs include all types of abuse and neglect as well as parental mental illness, substance use, divorce, incarceration, and domestic violence. A landmark study in the 1990s found a significant relationship between the number of ACEs a person experienced and a variety of negative outcomes in adulthood, including poor physical and mental health, substance abuse, and risky behaviours. The more ACEs experienced, the greater the risk for these outcomes.
- WWACA has embraced training and supervision in principles from Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) to provide a relationally enhanced psychologically informed service for women and children fleeing domestic violence.
- They also use therapeutic interventions which include:
- Drawing and Talking- a ten-week programme to help children express how they feel through drawing and understand the difference between what is real and what they have created.
- Work from Karen Treisman – Child Psychologist.
- Work on self-esteem, anger and difficult behaviour and understanding the impact of domestic abuse.
- Work with families.
- Justice for Kids in Care is an organisation dedicated to the protection of children in the care system. Founded by a survivor of the care system, James Summers is leading the fight to help and support these unfortunate ones with his quest of Justice 4 Kids In Care. He has spent decades recovering from the neglect and abuse he faced as a child in the care system.
- Safe Families is a charity that works with 35+ local authorities around the UK. Safe Families offer hope, belonging and support to children, families and care leavers; we do this primarily, but not exclusively, with and through local churches.
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Rainbow Trust is an organisation that helps when a child has a serious illness, family life is turned upside down and time becomes more precious than ever. Rainbow Trust pairs each family with an expert Family Support Worker who enables them to make the most of time together, giving them practical and emotional support, whenever they need it, for as long as is needed. They support the whole family including parents, carers, the unwell child, brothers, sisters and grandparents. Support is hugely varied and depends on the needs of the family. It can include:
- listening to a family’s fears and anxieties
- helping to explain illnesses, diagnoses and treatments
- keeping a seriously ill child company during hospital stays
- driving families to medical appointments to help save time and money
- organising fun activities to help sick children, their brothers and sisters
- support through bereavement and grief.
- Variety Children’s Charity provide practical, tangible help that makes an immediate difference to children and young people aged 18 and under. This includes grants for specialist disability equipment and wheelchairs that aren’t available through statutory services; adapted, accessible transport for SEND schools and other non-profit organisations through our Sunshine Coaches programme; and memorable day trips through our Great Days Out programme.
Funding:
Not-for-profit organisations in the UK that are working with children and young people using the arts and creative media can apply for funding through the Ragdoll Foundation. The Foundation’s vision is to support projects where the concerns of childhood can be heard. A variety of art forms can be supported including dance, drama, ceramics, creative play, film, music, puppetry and storytelling. Supported projects need to support equality of opportunity, can include families and take place in rural or urban settings and may be delivered, for example, in children’s and community centres, nurseries, schools and hospitals.
WUTH Charity raises funds to make a real difference to patient care in their hospitals. Their work directly touches the lives of the thousands of patients of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, cared for in both Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge Hospitals each year, as well as the many more friends and family members who visit them.
BBC Children in Need, is of course, a nationally televised event we watch for the amazing acts they have lined up as well as to donate to help the children across our nation. From watching Terry Wogan host to the new influx of Graham Norton and company, we cherish this event. We cry at the stories of the children out there who need that extra help. BBC Chidlren in Need award grants for projects working with disadvantaged children and young people, aged 18 and under. The small grants are under £10,000 for one to three years and the main grants are over £10,000 for one to three years.
Ford Britain Trust have small grants of up to £250 for work supporting activities with clear benefit to the community, work with young people/children, schools, special educational needs, those with disabilities. Applications are invited from registered charities, schools/PTAs, not for profit organisations (including small clubs and societies).
There are countless others out there who do their best to make a difference in the lives of our children, and so from us at Community Action Wirral, we say thank you.
