Staffing problems undermine work with families in poverty
Tom Lloyd
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Professionals are being hindered in their attempts to help disadvantaged families because of working practices and recruitment problems, research has found.
The wide-ranging study of families living in poverty in England, published today, (14 November), has found that being able to build a relationship with a professional is key to parents accessing support. But recruitment and retention problems are threatening the creation of these links.
The study, Living with Hardship 24/7, is the result of a partnership between the NSPCC, the University of York and the Frank Buttle Trust. Researchers spoke to 70 families living on low incomes, as well as professionals.
They found parents valued professionals who were able to spend time getting to know them, showed them respect and treated them as equals.
Carol-Ann Hooper, senior lecturer in social policy at the University of York and the lead author of the report, said: "GPs were particularly important because they had the role of getting to know the whole family. Children can talk to them more than social workers. Health visitors were also very important."
Where services were not able to respond to the needs of a family, the experience could prove damaging because it increased the stress parents were under. Problems with housing repairs, waiting times for access to mental health services, and high thresholds for intervention from children's services were the most common concerns.
Hilary Fisher, director of End Child Poverty, said: "This report gives a clear idea of the challenges that some of these families go through on a daily basis."
As part of the study, the researchers spoke with 59 children, aged five upwards. They found even the youngest were aware of the problems faced by their families and often hid their own worries for fear of increasing the stress on their parents.
- www.nspcc.org.uk/inform.