Health & Wellbeing: Making hard times a little better

Increasing numbers of families struggling to turn on the heating and afford to buy food was the catalyst for a Glasgow nursery group opening Family Matters Hubs.

The impact of its work led to the social enterprise winning both the Community Support and Working with Parents awards at the Nursery World Awards 2023. Indigo Childcare Group has been based in the deprived area of Castlemilk for more than 30 years but, as the country emerged from the Covid pandemic, staff realised that more families across its two nurseries and out-of-school care services – including those who were in paid employment – were navigating both an inequality and financial crisis.

‘We’d come out of the back of Covid and into the cost-of-living crisis with the energy price cap increase,’ says family support co-ordinator Roisin Deville. ‘We saw a rise in families asking for basics and were really, really struggling. Some children didn’t have appropriate clothing for the weather and parents were running out of nappies and formula.’

A nursery survey of families in October 2022, repeated 12 months later, brought some stark statistics:

• In 2022, 17 per cent of respondents were worried about losing power, while 20 per cent actually did in 2022-23.
• More than a half (51 per cent) of families were worried about running up arrears on their energy accounts in 2022, and 45.5 per cent of them reported that this actually happened to them over the course of the year.
• Sixty per cent of families were concerned about being able to afford daily essentials such as food, while 49 per cent said they were unable to in 2022-23.
• In 2022, 44 per cent thought they may not be able to afford to turn the heating on, while 34.5 per cent confirmed that this had been the case for them.
• Almost a quarter of respondents (24 per cent) reported that they had lost digital connectivity, including mobile phone and Wi-Fi/broadband plans.

Indigo was also concerned about the knock-on impact of financial struggles. Roisin says, ‘We know that this cannot only increase the cost of debt, but also negatively impacts credit ratings, limiting opportunities to take out affordable credit plans for household items or digital connections like phone plans and broadband.’

FAMILY SUPPORT

Indigo successfully secured funding to set up Family Matters Hubs and employ a dedicated family support co-ordinator and a speech and language therapist (see Case study). A food pantry provides free tins of food and toiletries, and there are events to support families with access to warm spaces and healthy hot meals. There are also fun activities and tailored sessions to enjoy, from Family Matters Stay and Play sessions to the national Bookbug scheme and playgroups with shared reading, nursery rhymes and play. There are also speech and language interventions.

The organisation is careful not to duplicate financial support that is already available in the community and works together with local charities. ‘We wanted to make sure even working families were able to access food and supplement what is not already available in other services,’ says Roisin. ‘The food pantry is in the office we use for Stay and Play sessions so families can pop in whenever they need, or phone ahead and we can put together a pack of specific items. It is important for us that we uphold families’ dignity. There is no monitoring of access or judgement, so that they can get food without feeling anxious.’

They have established a clothes bank of donated ‘reloved’ items and unclaimed lost property for families.

By working closely with families, Roisin can gain their confidence and get to know their needs, enabling her to signpost them to additional support where needed, for example, housing support and free or subsidised childcare places. She is also able to draw on funding to purchase specific items, such as electric blankets and dehumidifiers, which are in demand because many local homes have damp problems.

LOVING LANGUAGE

By reducing the burden of financial worry being experienced by parents, they are also lessening the mental health impact of poverty and supporting the whole family’s wellbeing, says speech and language therapist Kirsty Dawson. ‘Children’s behaviour can be negatively impacted if their needs are not being met – whether that’s because they are hungry, have not been able to sleep well, or their parents are preoccupied by financial worries,’ she says. ‘We work with a lot of children with speech and language difficulties. When families have lots of things happening – such as concerns with finances, emotional difficulties and other circumstances – speech and language tends not to be their first priority and there is a high link between poor language and communication and multiple deprivation.’

Kirsty heads up the Family Matters Loving Language programme, so-named because, she explains, it is not just about communication support but also about the loving and nurturing environment that the children are in. Kirsty supports practitioners at Indigo and other settings, advising them on which signs of language delay to look for and strategies to support speech, language and communication development. The programme has resulted in 89 per cent of practitioners saying they feel more confident in their practice and 83 per cent of children meeting their speech and language milestones, with the remaining mostly being those with diagnosed developmental or congenital delay.

Family Matters has had a wide impact on the Indigo community. Hundreds of families have accessed support and practitioners report they are now able to focus on the direct needs of children, reassured that parents are being supported with complex family issues.

CASE STUDY: help to study

Layla* is a lone parent with a seven-year-old son, Jake*, and a three-year-old daughter, Jessica*, who is going through the diagnosis process for autism and is registered in Indigo Childcare Group’s early years service. To support her communication skills, the team had worked one-to-one with Layla and Jessica.

Layla wanted to learn more ways to support Jessica’s language and communication development, and began attending Bookbug and Play sessions at nursery before joining the Family Matters Stay and Play, bringing along her daughter and son.

Layla began building positive relationships with Kirsty, the speech and language therapist, and Roisin, the family support co-ordinator, and mentioned she was in difficulty financially, particularly as Jake has special dietary requirements. In response, they helped Layla to access food and second-hand clothing and a ‘cosy bundle’ that included children’s pyjamas and an energy-saving electric blanket. They also referred Layla to the local Law Centre for advice.

Layla had previously started studying for a university qualification in social work but had a hiatus during the Covid pandemic and her pregnancy with Jessica. She had always planned on returning but was rethinking this. She would need to register Jake at Indigo’s Out of School Care Service, but was worried about how he would settle. Layla was also very concerned about her ability to afford the additional childcare required during university placements.

Thanks to funding the nursery obtained via the Scottish Government’s Access to Childcare scheme, it was able to give Jake a subsidised childcare place during the summer so that he could get to know the staff. Layla has returned to her studies and they continue to receive subsidised and funded days during placement times and holiday periods.

*names have been changed