The cost of living crisis means that many will look to their local community and churches for support.
There is so much bad news at the moment from the cost of living crisis and further energy price hikes coming in October to the failure of government mechanisms and global warming tragedies. It’s tough to find the sweet spot that keeps us aware and proactive but not overwhelmed.
We need hope and to focus on what can help.
Many of our Kids Matter families will be waving goodbye to their children as they start the new school year amidst the stress of mounting financial pressure. Poverty is all consuming and affects every single decision made in a day – whether to turn on the heating and what you will forfeit if you do, and what you might tell your child when they’re begging for a snack at school pick up and you have nothing to give them (because there is nothing). The weight of it as well as the physical implications of hunger and overall stress… and then parenting, with all of that going on. How? It’s not possible without support and yet in a new report by Action for Children, researchers found that:
- Parents want support: 66% of parents wished there was more high-quality support available to help with their parenting.
- There is inequality in access to support: lower-income parents, Black, Asian and minority ethnic parents, younger parents, and fathers, were more likely to have faced difficulty accessing services. There was also significant regional variation in access.
- Parenting support helps with prevention: 32% of parents who accessed parenting support went on to access further support as a result of this.
Whilst is clear that parenting support should be seen as an important form of early intervention, the report also found that the most common barrier to accessing parenting support was that services were not available.
How will parents facing disadvantages cope if their needs are overlooked?
Our aim, at Kids Matter, is to fill this gap. We want to come alongside children and their mums, dads and carers. Our focus is on bringing families confidence, competence and community to enable their children to thrive no matter what.
If you would like to find out more about Kids Matter’s parenting programme, we would love to chat! Please contact us at info@kidsmatter.org.uk.