FAMILY SUPPORT WORK

Update 11 October 2020

The Sussex charity for children since 1890

FSW Latest Update

Thank you for all the support you have given to Family Support Work over the summer. It came in all shapes and sizes from cash and cheques including new standing orders which kept the wheels turning at Head office, to food items and household cleaning materials. These were generously supplemented by items of clothing and unwanted gifts for the shop and bedding and towels for our families in need.

Our permanent staff have returned from being furloughed, the children are back to school and the support groups and after school clubs are starting up again. I know that most of you are aware of the need to support them in practical ways, gifting food and household items but did you know…….?

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FSW provides one-to-one, intensive help to children and families in Sussex, plus a range of group support and structured play activities. It is here for any child of any faith.
We support children and families through difficult times in their lives including low income and poverty; mental or physical ill health; disability; learning difficulties; school non-attendance and exclusion; bereavement; family break-up and domestic abuse. We strive to prevent crisis. Our aim is to support parents as they try to ensure that their children have the best start in life – “A strong family for every child in Sussex”
There are 11 Family Support Practitioners including the Play team currently providing support to our families Across the diocese.
They visit families at home to provide one-to-one emotional and practical support. This includes listening, parenting advice, help to manage money, encouragement and support to find work, referral to specialist services, attending appointments and advocating for families.
FSW also provides food parcels, clothing, household goods and help with winter fuel bills where necessary.
Daytime family drop-in sessions give parents/carers and their young children a chance to get out of the house and meet others.
Play Workers undertake one-to-one structured play sessions, helping with children’s emotional and social development.
There are support groups for families with children and/or parents who have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
FSW also provides support for families with children who have an Attachment Disorder, and this group is mainly attended by grandparents who have custody of their grandchildren.
There is also group support for parents of Special Educational Needs children.
FSW works closely with schools to encourage and support children to stay in mainstream education and do well.
As well as free after school clubs and activities our Family Support Practitioners and Playworkers organise whole-family days out and weekend breaks to relieve family stress and improve family relationships.
Twice a year, families have the opportunity for a supported weekend break at a local retreat centre. The weekends usually include games, crafts, a campfire and a talent show.
We offer a range of school holiday activities across Sussex. These include:

• Days out, including coach trips to local family attractions
• Play sessions, ranging from once a week to every day during holiday time
• Pantomime trips and parties at Christmas

By now you will have a pretty good picture of what Family Support work is able to do with your help. A summary of how the charity worked during the pandemic is available in the new diary for September through to November. To sum up I would like to share with you a recent case study:
Lucy was referred to FSW by the vicar of the church she attended. She had just turned 30, with a husband and young daughter, but had been diagnosed with cancer some months earlier. She had been receiving treatment and as a result Lucy had to give up her professional career: she couldn’t manage that and the care of her daughter. Here is a bright young woman who had been dealt a massive blow, but this wasn’t the only reason for her referral.

By now you will have a pretty good picture of what Family Support work is able to do with your help. A summary of how the charity worked during the pandemic is available in the new diary for September through to November. To sum up I would like to share with you a recent case study:
Lucy was referred to FSW by the vicar of the church she attended. She had just turned 30, with a husband and young daughter, but had been diagnosed with cancer some months earlier. She had been receiving treatment and as a result Lucy had to give up her professional career: she couldn’t manage that and the care of her daughter. Here is a bright young woman who had been dealt a massive blow, but this wasn’t the only reason for her refer.
Imagine you were Lucy and your husband stopped being supportive and started becoming violent in the home, scaring you and your young child. Her husband had developed bipolar disorder and their marriage broke down – he left the home so Lucy was now a single parent. Just weeks later, another bombshell landed.  Lucy’s sister had a son, but the sister had been deemed unsuitable to care for him.  The sister had her own issues with drug abuse and prison sentences. Social Services asked Lucy if she would consider acting as a kinship carer for her nephew. A kinship carer is a close relative, one who is asked to take on care of a child within their family and then becomes their legal parent. What would you have done? I’m sure you won’t be surprised at what happened next. Lucy agreed immediately to take on kinship care of her nephew. This was on a Friday.
The following Monday a social worker arrived at Lucy’s door with her nephew and £60 to cover expenses. She never got any support from them again. Her nephew has severe, special needs and needed a lot of attention, which gradually affected Lucy’s own daughter’s development. So, from a diagnosis of cancer – and the treatment for that - Lucy was now juggling her own physical and mental health issues, the break-up of her relationship, the duties of a parent to a very challenging child as well as trying to ensure her own daughter was happy and safe. And all of this in the space of a few months. This is what FSW means by “families in crisis”, and it was at this point that FSW stepped in.  With FSW help, Lucy was able to access all the benefits to which she was entitled to as a newly-single parent and kinship carer. She was supported through many battles with her nephew’s school, who were not providing appropriate support for him.  Ultimately FSW helped her to arrange a transfer to a new school where he is now better behaved and progressing well. FSW also took her daughter out for individual play work to make sure that she did not suffer from all the changes that had happened in her young life.

Now the picture is very different. Lucy’s cancer is, thankfully, in remission; her daughter has just started school and her nephew is getting on well at the new school and has settled into the new family situation. Lucy is also working with her practitioner to set up a local group for other kinship carers so that they can provide information and support for each other:  there is no other service that provides this. Things are by no means easy for Lucy, but they might have been far worse if FSW had not been able to spend many hours giving her and her family intensive support. The head of fundraising for FSW saw Lucy a few weeks ago and Lucy told her that she was at such a low point before FSW stepped in to help to the extent she had serious doubts as to whether she would still be here today. FSW helped to keep her family together and to give her strength to carry on despite being faced with so much adversity.  That help came in many ways, from those just explained and in little ways too: there were times that Lucy and her family needed some help from our food bank.  And this is not the end of the story because there may be occasions in future when Lucy needs to ask again.

FSW has been here for around 130 years and with your help we can and do support a growing number of families. I hope that you will agree that all I have been able to share with you today falls into place rather nicely with today’s theme of ‘love your neighbour.’