Where your money goes

One of our main goals is to help the children to feel safer because if they feel safe that is a base level to start from, that’s a foundation. If they don’t feel safe then we have nothing to work with.

We are only able to fund expansion and development of our services and build new homes with donations and trust fundraising support. 

Every new bed we build is sustained by fees from statutory sources allowing us to take more children who most need our help and who would remain severely at risk without our intervention. 

Current funding priorities

Oakwood House Development

Last year we acquired Oakwood House, a neighbouring property to our Kent homes, which we now need to prepare in readiness for more children who need our specialist care at a time of increasing demand. 

There are currently over 73,000 children in care.  We need to go further towards meeting the increasing demand from Local Authorities to place children with us.

Greenfields House

Our Greenfields House community requires some modification to provide much needed additional recreational and therapeutic space.

On-line staff training and development

Funding is sought to develop our on-line learning capacity for our staff and our teachers. We also need to purchase a Virtual Learning Environment module for our website.

Placement and Family Support Service

  • Our Placement and Family Support Service is available to support the whole family and network of each child in our care.
  • Working together, we aim to promote the recovery of both the child and, where possible, the family. As a result of this family work 11% of our children are able to return to their families.       
  • Where a child’s next placement is fostering or adoption, we work closely with all concerned to prepare the child and the family, and to ensure that the fostering or adoption placement is a success.
  • When it is time for a child to move on, the Placement and Family Support Service helps the family and its network think and plan each step. Some children may continue with part of their treatment by either staying on at school or continuing with therapy and family support at home. Others may move on completely, but may need a more intensive package of support. We are able to tailor what we provide to each individual.
  • We now need to develop a programme of iST training for PFS workers specific to their needs and which will offer us a robust and systemic training platform to ensure clinical practice meets the standards we require.

The children’s needs

When they come to us, children’s earlier life trauma is expressed through self-harm and disturbed and violent behaviours which communicate their distress.  Children may also destroy things in the homes as a way of expressing being uncomfortable with having bedrooms and possessions of their own.  Quite simply they may believe they are not worthy.  These events necessitate repair and replacement.  Wear and tear in all our homes is extremely high and expensive.

Holidays, theatre trips and experiences

We also seek voluntary contributions to support the cost of holidays, visits to the theatre and camping trips.  Thanks to the generosity of a local benefactor, children at one of our communities recently visited Lapland.  These experiences are particularly valued and appreciated by the children who may never have been on holiday before.

We have historically and necessarily kept a low profile to safeguard and protect the identity of the children who entrust their care and wellbeing to us. This makes our fundraising particularly challenging and we are so grateful to those who give so generously to support our work.

If you would like to support any of these projects or for more information please contact Clara, our Head of Fundraising on:

cking@childhoodfirst.org.uk
020 7928 7388