No room to play - homeless children

The run-down bed-and-breakfast hotel in a grim Glasgow backstreet near Govan has been the home of four-year-old Mark, his mother Pat and her partner Robert, for the past three weeks.

The family turned up at Glasgow City Council's housing department, declaring themselves homeless, after having to leave their flat when drunken neighbours began smashing it up
and threatening them, Robert says.

Now the three share a cramped room, scarcely 10 feet square, crammed with two beds, a dressing table and a wardrobe, with a TV and kettle precariously balanced on top of a fridge and trailing wires everywhere.

Mark has a serious squint, and a poor diet has left him with bad teeth. He has no toys to play with, there was no time to collect such things when the family fled, so he spends most of the day in front of the TV.

The Homeless Families Healthcare Service, part of the Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust, has picked up Mark's case and will make a referral to the Council's Pre-Fives Homeless Support Project, which offers nursery places to children under five living in temporary accommodation.

The project's manager, Noelle Harvey, believes it is the only one of its kind in the UK. It has been running for almost ten years, originally funded by an Urban Aid grant but now part of the council's mainstream education service. Noelle has a full-time family support worker and a team of seven childcare staff plus an administrator. Up to 16 children aged from two to five years and up to six babies from six weeks to two years can be accommodated in the project's own weekday nursery.

They are referred to the project by  health visitors, social workers, housing officers and the city's Homeless Families Healthcare Service. Families  can also refer themselves. The only criteria for referral is that the family is homeless and living in temporary furnished accommodation or bed-and-breakfast and the child is under five.

When a referral is received a home visit is made to look at family circumstances. 'We look at everything that is going on for the family and liaise with other agencies, as necessary, to give them as much help as possible,' says Noelle. 'There is no blueprint. Every family is different and we tailor what we offer to their individual needs.'

Initially the needs may be very basic. If a family has had to leave home in a hurry, perhaps pursued by drug pushers or loan sharks, they may have no children's clothes or equipment such as feeding bottles, sterilising equipment or a buggy.

It often suits the family to have their child enrolled in a local nursery. So that these nurseries can accommodate additional children, the Pre-Fives Homeless Project will supply one of its own nursery staff as an extra worker   one or two days a week. Noelle's budget also allows her to recruit sessional childcare workers to keep the project nursery's child:staff ratio balanced.

Some nurseries cannot take children under three years, so families with babies may be offered a 'home play experience', which involves a member of Noelle's staff going out to the family's temporary home and creating a play environment there for a few hours a week. This also offers a welcome break to mothers. 'But, wherever possible, especially if a family is in a B&B hotel, we like to take the child out of that environment for a short while, so nursery provision is the best option,' says Noelle.

The project receives more than 300 referrals a year and children stay in the nursery only for as long as their family remains in temporary accommodation. The average stay is around four to five months.

When the family moves into permanent accommodation, Noelle and her team again play an active role in putting them in touch with nurseries, schools and other agencies in their new area. 'We do the best we can for every family, regardless of the circumstances that led to their becoming homeless,' she adds. 'But we never forget the most important person in all of this is the child.'