Booklet Info

This document discusses several services provided by Barnardo's to support vulnerable children and families, including fostering, adoption, short break care, special guardianship, and programs to help children affected by domestic violence and disabled children. It provides information on each service and facts related to domestic violence, disability, and the needs of disabled children. Barnardo's aims to alleviate the long-term effects of domestic violence and support disabled children's inclusion through various counseling, family support, and community programs.

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Booklet Info

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Fostering

Fostering is about looking after other peoples children when they are unable to remain with
their own families. Foster care provides a safe, secure and stable environment for these young
people.

Adoption
Adoption is a way of providing a new family for a child when living with their own family is
not possible. It is the assumption of full legal and parental responsibility for a child. The child
becomes a full member of the adoptive family.

Short break care

Short break carers provide opportunities for disabled children and young people to have
regular short stays away from their families. This allows children to develop experiences and
social contacts beyond their own home.

Special Guardianship
Special Guardianship is intended to provide permanence for children for whom adoption is
not appropriate. It involves a lifelong relationship between the carer and the child or young
person.

Domestic violence
Domestic violence has often been seen as a problem between adults. It was thought that as
long as children were not in the same room and actually caught in the crossfire, they were not
affected by violence between their parents. However there is growing understanding of the
risks to children.
Barnardos knows of many children whose lives have been damaged by domestic violence. It
is clear that children are not deceived by closed doors. They are acutely aware of tension in
the adult world, particularly tension which leads to violence. There is growing evidence that
children who live in families where there is violence between the parents can suffer serious
long-term emotional effects. Even if they are not physically harmed, children may suffer
lasting emotional and psychological damage as a result of witnessing violence. They may be
encouraged to take part in bullying or threatening a parent, or be threatened by one parent as
a way of controlling the other.

Domestic violence facts

Many public inquiries into the deaths of children in recent years have shown that the
men responsible for the death of children have a history of violence towards their
female partners.

Through violence in the home, children may suffer emotional and psychological
damage. The very young may show physical signs of distress such as bedwetting,
stomach-aches and disturbed sleep. Older children can become withdrawn or exhibit
extreme behaviour, such as misusing alcohol or drugs.

On average, women contact 11 agencies before they receive the help they need. For
black women this rises to 17 agencies.

Domestic violence projects

Barnardos aims to alleviate the long-term effects of domestic violence on children through
counselling and family support services. Many mothers continue to provide love and stability
for their children in very difficult circumstances, and Barnardo's tries to strengthen their
ability to cope. Where a mother's ability to look after their children has been undermined by
the stress of living with fear, services try to help them improve their confidence and selfesteem so that they can protect themselves and their children from violence.

Disability and inclusion

Barnardo's believes that every child, whatever their needs, has the right to participate fully in
their community and to have the same choices, opportunities and experiences as other
children; to make local friends, and to access, play, leisure and recreational facilities.
A childhood dominated by institutional care can leave young disabled people ill-prepared for
an independent life in the community. Often there is little option but to move into adult forms
of residential provision. Even where disabled children are able to stay with their families,
their social lives are likely to be more limited, they are more dependent on their parents for
leisure activities than non-disabled children, and the family can face a life living in poverty.
Families with disabled children are often poorer; they are often forced to live in unsuitable
housing; they cannot get out and about; and they cannot access childcare that would enable
them to go to work and break out of poverty.

Facts about disability

It costs on average twice as much to raise a child with a severe impairment as a nondisabled child. The main areas of additional expenditure are transport, toiletries,
bedding, food, replacing damaged household items, special toys and equipment.

Disabled children and their families suffer from social exclusion often as a result of a
combination of linked problems, including poverty, segregation, discrimination and
inadequate provision of support services.

Of all families in the UK who care for disabled children, 30 per cent either are or have
been living in poverty. A fifth of families with disabled children are also reported to
be living in cold, damp housing in poor repair.

Projects working with disabled children

Barnardo's is committed to the principle of inclusion for disabled children and works with
children from pre-school age to 16 plus. We support young people with special educational
needs and those who have been, or are at risk of being, excluded from school. We also work
with young disabled people who, because of their disability, have been denied access to
normal everyday living and experiences. Barnardos has a significant number of services
which provide short breaks for disabled children, enabling them to have new experiences and
giving their families much needed respite.
Barnardos Hamara Family Project has been providing a valued and well respected service
for disabled children, young people and their families in Waltham Forest since January 1990.
We work with all the communities in the borough and are constantly developing services
which aim to meet the needs of our service users.

Our vision is:

To offer a range of non-residential services to disabled children and young people who live
within the borough, which enhance their lives at home, promote their independence in the
community and support their families in caring for them.
Hamara means 'our' in Urdu and Hindi.
We offer:

care for children in their own home

care for children in a carers home

play, leisure and holiday activities

support for parents or carers, brothers and sisters

support for children to participate in mainstream activities

training for service providers and parents or carers.

NOT FROM BARNARDOS

Link with child abuse: The link between child physical abuse and domestic violence is high, with
estimates ranging between 30% to 66% depending upon the study. (Hester et al, 2000; Edleson, 1999;
Humphreys & Thiara, 2002; Mullender and Morley,1994; Radford and Hester, 2007.) The Royal College of
Psychiatrists states: "About half the children in such families have themselves been badly hit or beaten.
Sexual and emotional abuse are also more likely to happen in these families."
According to a recent NSPCC study, 12% of under 11s, 18% of 11-17s and 24% of 18-24s had been
exposed to domestic abuse between adults in their homes during childhood. Adult males were the
perpetrators in 94% of cases where one parent had physically abused another.
From: NSPCC (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC.
In a study of 268 serious case reviews, 34% of cases were found to have domestic abuse as a risk
factor.
From: Brandon, M., Bailey, S. and Belderson, P. (2010) Building on the learning from serious case
reviews: a two-year analysis of child protection database notifications 2007-2009. London:
Department for Education.
Domestic abuse accounts for 18% of all violent crime.
From: Home Office (2011) Crime in England and Wales 2010/11. London: Home Office.
Children who experience severe maltreatment by a parent or guardian are between 2.7 and 2.9
times more likely to also have witnessed family violence. Under 11s who had experienced physical
abuse by a parent or guardian were almost 5 times more likely to have witnessed family violence.
From: NSPCC (2011) Child abuse and neglect in the UK today. London: NSPCC.
Between 1994 and 2004, 29 children in 13 families were killed during contact (or in one case
residence) arrangements in England and Wales. Ten of these children were killed in the last two
years.
From: Saunders, H. (2004) 29 child homicides: lessons still to be learnt on domestic violence and child
protection. Bristol: Womens Aid Federation of England (WAFE).
The total cost of domestic abuse to services (the criminal justice system, health, social services,
housing and civil legal) amounts to 3.8 billion per year, while the loss to the economy is 1.9
billion per year in England and Wales. An additional element is the human and emotional cost
which is not counted in the cost of services. This amounts to just under 10 billion a year. Including
all costs, the total cost of domestic abuse for the state, employers and victims is estimated at
around 16 billion per year.

From: Walby, S. (2009) The cost of domestic violence: update 2009 (Word). Lancaster University:
UNESCO Chair in Gender Research.