Pooled funding benefits families
Mahrukh Choughtai
Wednesday, November 7, 2001
A new 1.2m purpose-built centre in Ruchazie, Glasgow, is providing a wealth of services for families and young children, including a project to help men to be better dads. The charity Quarriers, which provides family support services to people who have chronic drug or alcohol problems or who have suffered neglect or abuse, moved its Glasgow family support unit from temporary premises into the new centre last month. A funding package for the Quarriers Family Resource Project was devised last year following negotiations between the charity, Greater Glasgow Health Board, Glasgow Council education and social work departments, two of Glasgow's social inclusion partnerships and Scottish Homes. Their efforts were praised last week in a report on integrated children's services, which cited the project as an example of what can be achieved by pooling budgets.
The charity Quarriers, which provides family support services to people who have chronic drug or alcohol problems or who have suffered neglect or abuse, moved its Glasgow family support unit from temporary premises into the new centre last month. A funding package for the Quarriers Family Resource Project was devised last year following negotiations between the charity, Greater Glasgow Health Board, Glasgow Council education and social work departments, two of Glasgow's social inclusion partnerships and Scottish Homes. Their efforts were praised last week in a report on integrated children's services, which cited the project as an example of what can be achieved by pooling budgets.
The new building is home to a Sure Start nursery for the under-threes, a Starting Well health demonstration project and community facilities. Family support services include help from a male parent development worker, funded by Children in Need.
Project manager Mary Glasgow said, 'We didn't want the family centre to become a mother and child centre. We only had the odd dad attending, so we felt a need for a different approach. We thought a male worker in an all-female team was the answer.'
Qualified social worker George Potter, a local resident with two sons, has taken on the job and is now involved in a number of programmes, working with groups and individuals, including a parenting programme and a father and child playgroup.
Ms Glasgow said many of the men who came to the centre said their own fathers had been cold and hard towards them and they wanted to know how to be warm and caring. Quarriers has carried out a survey into the experiences of fathers in order to identify their needs and raise their profile.
Ms Glasgow said, 'Men are so much more easy to engage if you help to sort things out practically. It is easier for them to focus on financial issues rather than jumping straight into the emotional side of things. But once we have gained trust and built on the relationship, we can look at the underlying problems.
'Initially people were not too sure about the idea of a male worker, but they have realised that early years support is targeted at women and men aren't acknowledged as having a significant role. We want them to realise that dads have a crucial role.'
For more information contact Quarriers on 01505 612 224.
