Believing in children in the North East
Barnardo's North East covers Northumberland, Tyneside, Wearside, Durham and Teesside. On average we work with around 14,000 children, young people and their families a year. We provide over 50 services – each one of them different. We also have 15 shops and a team of fundraising staff and volunteers.
We work at the heart of social disadvantage and we are proud of what we’re achieving. We have services which have led the way in developing new ideas and in providing the blueprint for others to follow on.
The range of need, and consequently the range of our services, is diverse. This reflects the many difficult circumstances children and young people find themselves in. Services will change, but our aim and our motivation remains the same: to continue to make a real difference in people’s lives – all the children, young people and their families with whom we work.
We offer our help and support when a child or young person’s future is under threat - be it from homelessness, drugs, sexual abuse, disability, unemployment, prejudice, emotional problems – we deal with it all. For example:
- We support families where children may be at risk from abuse or where parents simply cannot cope.
- Our support services for parents looking after a child with disabilities gives them a well earned break and provides a welcome change of scene for the children themselves.
- Our adoption and fostering schemes give a new start to children who are termed ‘difficult to place’ because of emotional or physical problems by matching them with new families. In addition, we run a fostering and adoption service for black and dual heritage children and young people.
- We also have drop in centres, services for young people with life threatening illnesses, family centres and nursery facilities, a service for young people who are caring for a sick or disabled relative and support groups for mothers whose children have been abused.
Tackling today’s issues
Never being an organisation to shy away from facing society’s more challenging problems head on, Barnardo’s is as committed to tackling the issues facing children and their families today as it ever was. Here are some examples:
Family support
Family support work and work with parents are promoted by Barnardo’s for a number of reasons: to help parents strengthen their relationship with their children; to find better ways of dealing with difficult behaviour and because being a parent is a demanding task which deserves support and recognition.
Family support and working with parents are increasingly seen as solutions to a range of social problems. Government initiatives include SureStart - a development which aims to give young children a better start in life and support their parents through better access to education and health facilities. It has a firm base in the North East, as Barnardo’s, in partnership with a number of other local agencies, has become involved through centres in Howdon, Newcastle East, Blyth and Cramlington.
Barnardo’s is also involved in The Children’s Fund – a government initiative for five to 13 year olds, with the aim of developing new services for children and their families living in disadvantaged areas.
In addition, we work with parents in the region through a curriculum called High/Scope, which is based on an idea that children learn best from the activities they plan and carry out themselves. We run courses for parents and adopt High/Scope methods in a lot of our work with children.
Homelessness
Significant numbers of young people, such as those leaving local authority care and those who have experienced family breakdown, have no choice but to cope on their own from the age of 16 or 17.
At this vulnerable age, young people need lots of support and here in the North East we have services which offer this, as well as practical help.
Disability
Children and young people with disabilities want to be treated the same as everyone else. They may have special needs or require the support of specialist services but they want to be included in everything that the rest of us take for granted.
Barnardo’s has the experience, the imagination and the determination to open doors for disabled children, working also with their families, to give a child new experiences and their parents and brothers and sisters a break.
Health
Promoting good health – be it physical, mental, emotional, or sexual – is also an important part of the work we do in the region. Almost all our services offer some kind of help, advice or support on health related issues and we’re committed to encouraging healthy lifestyles and well-being for all the young people we work with.
Social Exclusion
Some groups of young people are excluded from society for a variety of reasons. Here in the North East we work with these young people to help them access the sort of facilities and opportunities the rest of us have. They can then make the best of their lives and look forward to a more positive future.
Drugs and alcohol
Substance use is a reality for some young people today. Barnardo’s North East has services which work with young people and their families where substance use is an issue. We also believe in making sure staff in all our services have the skills and knowledge they need to support parents and young people and help minimise the harm of substance use.
