Vulnerable children projects handed £1m funding boost

The councils have been selected from 27 applications to roll out three What Works for Children’s Social Care funded projects targeting support at particularly vulnerable children.

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More than £1m has been allocated to run and evaluate the projects.

One of the projects aims to bolster mental health support for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. This is taking place among councils in London, Leeds, Liverpool and Kent and is being coordinated by the Refugee Council. Support includes group therapy sessions as well as one-to-one counselling.

“When refugee children arrive in the UK alone, after fleeing war and persecution, having a safe and confidential space to process their trauma is an essential step in moving on and rebuilding their lives,” said Refugee Council chief executive Enver Solomon.

“With this funding we will deliver individual therapeutic sessions to refugee children, together with group activities such as gardening and creative play, and training for professionals working with unaccompanied refugee children.”

Meanwhile, the funding will also back a programme being delivered by Manchester City Council to support babies with complex needs. Called Thriving babies: Confident Parents it will provide trauma-based, intensive support for up to 60 families in Manchester, with evaluation by Oxford Brookes University.

Another project will train 21 social workers across four children's services to deliver video interaction guidance (VIG) to families with a baby aged under one. Those involved are Stockport, Bath and North East Somerset, Hounslow and children's services provider Achieving for Children.

The VIG project aims to strengthen the relationship between babies and parents and help families to better understand infants’ needs.

Monika Celebi, director at the organisation Babies 1^st, which is running this project, said: “Training workers in children’s services to provide VIG will have a profound impact on the lives of families with babies.

“Supporting attuned connections between parents and babies are at the heart of the VIG method, which aims to reduce risk and improve the capacity for love and empathy in families.”

Evaluation is a key part of the funding, with the findings from the projects set to be shared among the wider children’s sector, according to What Works for Children’s Social Care.

“These projects aim to improve outcomes for two particularly vulnerable groups - young babies and unaccompanied asylum seeking children,” said What Works for Children’s Social Care director of programmes Louise Jones.

“I’m delighted to be expanding the evidence base so we better understand how to support these children and young people to thrive.”