Barnardo’s and our work
Q. How many staff do you have?
A. We have nearly 6,000 staff working throughout the UK. Our staff not only work directly work with children and young people but also in other areas eg fundraising, HR, IT and administrative roles in regional offices and services. All these people play a fundamental role in helping Barnardo’s to continue with its vital work with children and young people. If you would like to work at Barnardo’s please see what jobs vacancies we have at present.
Q. How many volunteers do you have?
A. We have 250,000 volunteers working with us every year in a variety of roles, from working in our charity shops to working directly with children or young people and in our offices. These volunteers are vital to the running of Barnardo’s. If you would like to volunteer for Barnardo’s please see what vacancies are available.
Q. What are your aims and objectives?
A. Barnardo's vision is that the lives of all children and young people should be free from poverty, abuse and discrimination. Our purpose is to help the most vulnerable children and young people transform their lives and fulfil their potential.
Q. What are the Barnardo’s building blocks?
A. Our work focuses on the vital components that make up a happy, healthy childhood. (We think of these as `building blocks'.) Barnardo's believes that all children and young people have a fundamental right to these to build a positive future.
- A family that can cope
- Protection from harm
- Emotional, physical and mental health
- A sense of belonging in the community
- Opportunities to learn
- A stake in society
Almost one third of all children in the United Kingdom are without one or more of these components. Barnardo's works with the most disadvantaged children to ensure that their vital needs are met. This is the reason why Barnardo's exists.
Q. Who do you work with?
A. Barnardo's works with children, young people, their families and communities. We work with them over the long term to overcome the most severe disadvantages - problems like abuse, homelessness and poverty - and to tackle the challenges of disability.
Q. What age range of children and young people do you work with?
A. We work with children and young people of all ages mainly up to age of 18 or 19 years but in some situations we work with them up to the age of 21 years.
Q. How many projects do you run?
A. We have 370 projects across the UK
Q. Where are your projects?
A. They are based all over the UK.
Why not find out where your nearest project is.
Q. What sort of work do you do?
A. Barnardo's helps children, young people and their families over the long term to overcome the most severe disadvantages - problems like abuse, homelessness and poverty - and to tackle the challenges of disability. Find out about each area of our work and what we do in more detail. We work with children like 5 year-old Steven who, neglected by both parents, used to talk of suicide. Now, after help from Barnardo's he can accept love and care from adults again.
Children like Michael, aged 2½ , who has Spina Bifida. He's come on so well at a Barnardo's day care scheme he'll now be able to go to ordinary school.
Children like Lindsey who was abused at the age of 8. Nobody believed her and as a teenager she turned to drink and drugs. We enabled Lindsey to overcome the low self-esteem caused by abuse. We enabled her to overcome drug and alcohol misuse, and we found her a safe and stable place to live.
Q. Are your projects free?
A. Yes, for the children and young people who use them. However sometimes local authorities use our projects e.g. to help find fostering and adoption placements for children and we charge them for the services.
Q. How many children do you help a year?
A. We work with 120,000 children, young people and families.
Q. What percentage of Barnardo’s projects are partnerships with other charities or local authorities?
A. The majority of our projects are in partnership with one area or another of statutory service – social services, education, health, police, probation, housing.. Barnardo’s has found that partnership agreements with local authorities, central government and other charities offer mutual benefit.
Q. How do you work with local authorities?
A. We work in partnership with local authorities to provide most projects. The funding would be split between the local authority and Barnardo’s (some are 50:50, some 60:40 depending on what has been negotiated). Sometimes buildings are provided by social services, in other cases the buildings are wholly owned by Barnardo’s. Where we work in partnership, the majority of users would be referred to the service by the relevant partner. However people can still refer themselves to the service.
Q. How do children and young people access your projects?
A. Children and young people can refer themselves to some projects or it may be that their parents or carers will refer them. Social services, schools, education authorities and local health authorities are also common referrers.
Q. What work do you do outside the UK e.g. to help children in Mozambique?
A. We don’t work outside of the UK and work in areas such as Mozambique is carried out by overseas aid agencies eg Oxfam or UNICEF, however Barnardo’s does sometimes help other countries by giving help and advice with child care. We helped set up homes for orphans in Romania and have advised on fostering in Russia.
Q. Are children fostered and how long for?
A. Fostering placements can be arranged for any amount of time, from short break care lasting an afternoon or a week to long term fostering placements which can last throughout the child’s life.
