Supporting vulnerable families to

prevent children being taken into care

ATD Fourth World

Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:

key policy and practice in addressing youth homelessness

8th November 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Contents of presentation

Introduction to ATD Fourth World

Poverty Is...?

Poverty in the UK

‘Povertyism’ and Poverty Discrimination

How poverty affects family life

Life examples

Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:

key policy and practice in addressing youth homelessness

8th November 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Introduction to

ATD Fourth World

A human rights, anti-poverty organisation,

established in France in 1957, now works in the

UK and 38 countries over 4 continents

throughout the world to enable the the most

vulnerable to contribute both to overcoming

poverty and to developing the community at

large.

Many families that we work with in the UK have

experience of the child protection system

Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:

key policy and practice in addressing youth homelessness

8th November 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Poverty Is??

Grass-roots participants worked on these comments over a series of

discussion groups:

Short 3min clip ‘Our voices’

ATD Fourth World

Our Policy, Participation and Training Programme empowers

people with experience of poverty to express their views and offer

solutions to the problems affecting their lives while offering policy

makers an invaluable insight into fighting poverty from the bottom

up.

Our Family Support Programme aims to act as a bridge between

the most vulnerable and excluded families and professionals, giving

both parties the time, space and resources to build positive and

long-lasting relationships.

In doing so, we seek to create the conditions that will allow parents,

children and professionals to work together and learn from one

another.

Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:

key policy and practice in addressing youth homelessness

8th November 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

Getting away from it

ATD Fourth World has always placed an importance on activities that give

people a chance to take a break from their daily struggles, spend quality

time together as a family and embrace new and different opportunities

alongside others in similar situations.

For these reasons, we organise residential breaks for families at Frimhurst

Family House throughout the year. These breaks aim to offer the breathing

space that will improve a family’s well-being, give parents a chance to think

clearly and, freed from their everyday pressures and anxieties, enjoy one

another's company.

Providing such positive experiences for children, young people and families

can, in link with other aspects of our Family Support Programme, act as a

foundation for the longer-term relationships necessary to tackle the more

challenging issues faced by families.

Giving Poverty a Voice

Giving Poverty a Voice supports people experiencing

poverty and inequality to engage with and have their say on

the decisions that affect their lives.

Issue-based discussion forums and capacity-building

workshops, creates a space where people can take time to

express their views, analyse and contextualise their own

experience and work together on solutions and policy

recommendations, therefor actively participating in the

democratic process.

Giving Poverty a Voice is currently focusing on housing & home: an interim report is available@: www.atd-uk.org

Social Worker Training

Programme.

Poverty is a multi-dimensional problem that affects many

areas of people’s lives and that, due to the stresses and

strains of daily struggle, impacts upon their relationships

with the services and professionals whose role it is to

support them.

Redressing this situation through a poverty awareness

training module that is both aimed at professionals and

delivered by people with experience of poverty and

social work interventions is central to our Social Worker

Training Programme.

This project was developed in partnership with Royal Holloway University of London

& ATD Fourth World UK

What is poverty in the UK? Relative poverty is defined as living on 60% or less of the average

(median) household income.

In 2010/11, 13.7 million people in the UK were living in poverty. This is 22% of the population.

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, December 2012

38% of children in London live in poverty. London also has the highest proportion of very wealthy people.

London’s Poverty Profile, November 2011

Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in

poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet,

participate in the activities and have the living conditions and

amenities which are customary, or are at least widely encouraged and

approved, in the societies in which they belong. Peter Townsend

Poverty?

Ref: Chambers, 2006: 4

Poverty and children in care

Bebbington and Miles’ (1989) study vividly demonstrated how the cumulative effect of socio-economic disadvantage dramatically increases a child’s chances of coming into the care system.

Child A Aged 5-9 Not on benefits Two parent family Three or fewer children White Owner occupied house More rooms than people Odds are 1 in 7000

Child B Aged 5-9 Income Support Single adult household Four or more children Mixed ethnic origin Privately rented home One or more persons per room Odds are 1 in 10

The Media

People in poverty are clearly discriminated against by a section of the mainstream UK media

Poverty & Discrimination Some government ministers claim that people on benefits “enjoy a lifestyle” and sleep

behind “drawn blinds” while their neighbours go to work, without being challenged on such

assertions.

As one young man noted, “If even the Prime Minister is calling us scroungers, frauds

and fakes, then ordinary people will believe it, won't they?”

Such misinformation is used by politicians to justify otherwise unpopular economic policies,

such as harsh austerity measures, benefit caps, a bedroom tax and punitive welfare-to-work

schemes.

It is also a building block in the creation of an “us and them” culture that can be seen in the

withdrawal of local health, support, legal and advice services. The heaping of these cuts on

the shoulders of the weakest can only have a massively detrimental effect on their long-

term health and capacity to work and to parent.

One father observed that, “There will be a rise in the number of children placed into care

when their parents can no longer feed, house or clothe them properly due to these

cuts.”

Investing in young people to prevent a lost generation in Europe:

key policy and practice in addressing youth homelessness

8th November 2013, Prague, Czech Republic

‘Povertyism’ and Poverty

Discrimination

An ‘othering’ attitude

Deep-seated and persistent public

attitudes about the ‘deserving’ and the

‘undeserving’

There is a genuine concern that this

attitude is seeping into the national

consciousness and therefore affecting

social practice

Ref: Lister R. Poverty (2004)

Being blamed for being in poverty

Prejudices and pre-conceived ideas

‘Damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ - Being set up to fail

Being denied/ blamed for normal emotional responses.

Being invisible – having no voice

Being judged by assumptions – being stigmatized/ not being trusted

Points taken from workshops with Royal Holloway SWT

Examples of ‘Povertyism’ & poverty

discrimination in child protection

proceedings

How poverty can affect family life

Emotional health

Low self-esteem –”you feel worthless and think others have a low opinion of you and your children”

Depression – “stress and feelings of hopelessness”

Isolation – small social networks and less access to a social life

Loss of identity – “I feel like a number”

Being judged by assumptions – being stigmatized/

not being trusted

Instead of giving me money, my social worker went out

and got me sheets and quilt covers. She didn't give me

the money because she thought I wouldn't get what we

needed. Instead of bringing it to me she took it to the

social work office. I had to go there with my two

youngest ones, I didn't know it was about to rain, so we

walked to the office in the rain.

I've had a similar thing happen to me. Instead of giving

me money to buy food, they gave me food vouchers. It

makes you feel small.

Being denied/ blamed for

normal emotional responses.

I use the Letter Box System. How it works is that you’ve got a child and you want to send them a photo and a letter. You send it, but addressed to the adoption office. As in prison, they open the letter and read the content to check if you’ve haven’t written something you shouldn’t. You are not allowed to say “I miss you”. If they think it is inappropriate, then the kids don’t get it and you get told off. If it’s ok, they send it, but in a different envelope so that you can’t track where it has been posted from. The same thing happens when the child writes back.

We aren’t allowed to say certain things, because in their opinion it might upset the children. On a short term, this seems to keep the child calm, but on a long term this is harmful both for the children and the birth parents.

Life examples

Short Video clip of 3 young care-leavers speaking

about poverty and the importance of support

Finally Patricia’s thoughts…..

I think it’s when you go and see someone in authority.

They do not believe what you’re telling them and they

talk down at you as if you are not human and you are not

allowed to say your opinion. They sort of talk to you as if

you are not human to start off with and then they try to

make it sound as if you have no intelligent brain in your

head… We should all be treated as equals.

Recognising good practice &

Understanding difficult relationships

Recognising that service users are often very fearful of social

workers

Remembering that families have often had bad experiences

with social services in the past

Respecting families in their homes

Acknowledging that most families understand the importance of

having a constructive relationship with their social worker

Time is a very important commodity in building a positive and

supportive relationship

All quotations unless otherwise referenced

are directly from ATD Fourth World project

grass-roots participants who have a real

experience of poverty

Many thanks

48 Addington Square London SE5 7LB Tel: 020 7703 3231 Website: www.atd-uk.org Email: atd@atd-uk.org Twitter: @ATDFourthWorld www.facebook.com/ATDFourthWorld Registered Charity No. 209367

ATD Fourth World