Family Action taking action
Our impact 2022-2023
One of our key aims at Family Action is to be an organisation that doesn’t just talk, but takes practical action.
That’s why for this year’s impact Report, we have decided to focus on the areas of work where Family Action has been ‘taking action’ – whether that is creating new service models to meet emerging needs, fundraising so we can offer additional help, or supporting families to have a bolder, stronger voice.
Meet our new Chair, Ian Hargrave
community based service
Over 60,000
Over 150 families supported per year
We continue to follow our Theory of Change pillars to focus the action we take on areas where we feel we have most value to offer to support the building of stronger families.
CEO David Holmes
on how we help families
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we
Introduction Family Action taking action 2
CBE
“When
talk about taking action at Family Action, we are talking about doing with, not doing to”
– David Holmes CBE
“I am immensely proud of everything we achieved last year”
– Ian Hargrave
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Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty Family and community wellbeing
Families and change
Our Theory of Change
Across our services we use a Theory of Change to express how our activities contribute to outcomes which, in turn, help us achieve our goals. Family Action’s Theory of Change has five key pillars where we believe that we have a genuine role to play in changing families’ lives.
for families
What we want
Families and poverty Family dynamics and safety
Families are not living in poverty
Families have good quality relationships and are safe
Our overarching goal
Social mobility and individual aspirations are increased
Inequalities are reduced
Welfare assistance is available for families in crisis
Affordable, high quality childcare is available for all
People are supported to be able to work regardless of their background or circumstances
Families can access enough food regularly and affordably
People are supported to access education/training and achieve Improved employability
Grants
HeadStart
National School Breakfast Programme
Poverty can:
Reduce life chances
Increase stress and conflict in a family
Increase mental and physical health issues
Affect feelings of stigma
Families today Family and community wellbeing
Families have a bold, strong voice that is heard and supported by society
Families are healthy, have good wellbeing and feel connected
Families and change
Families are resilient through change
Improved family relationships and cohesion (where safe)
Reduced family conflict and aggression
Reduced family stress
Individuals understand and can manage personal emotions, behaviour and power dynamics
Parents/carers understand and can manage children’s emotions and behaviour
Improved understanding of risk
Improved communication skills
Families have strong social support networks
Relationship Support
SEND support
Intensive Family Support
Poor dynamics and safety can:
Reduce the efficacy of parenting
Slow down child development
Lead to aggression and DVA
Lead to future family breakdown
Increase stress in the household
Families feel able to discuss their issues openly and are less isolated as a result
Families feel part of decisions around their support
Society understands changing needs of families, supporting rather than judging them
Families have improved ability to seek support early, rather than at crisis point
Family Action has a strong voice, speaking for families when they cannot speak for themselves
Other agencies understand families’ needs and how to provide high quality support
Family Voices
FamilyLine
Influencing
Societal support can:
Give families the confidence to share issues and seek help early
Make sure support changes as families and society changes
Ensure support is relevant, representative and accessible
Reduced isolation/loneliness
Families feel connected with their community
Communities are resilient
Communities are better able to support the wellbeing of their members
Improved personal confidence for children and adults
Improved personal physical and mental health for children and adults
Communities are supported to recover from the effects of COVID-19
Families play an active positive role in their communities
Families and individuals have improved resilience
Families are prepared for changing situations, both positive and negative
Families are prepared for new life stages and transitions
Improved confidence in parenting and child development
Improved understanding of child developmental needs
Families benefit from step up/down support as needs change
Family Action’s support adapts to changing needs e.g. COVID-19, digital technologies
Social Prescribing Therapeutic services
Sexual Abuse services
Health, wellbeing and connectedness can:
Enable communities to support families beyond the support available from other agencies
Break cycles within that community and family
Perinatal Support Services
Adoption
Friendship Works
Changing family situations can:
Affect people positively and negatively
Lead to anxiety and stress
Enable families to be more resilient if they are supported
The difference we play a part in making
What we do (examples) Why we are needed
Building stronger families, because every family has the right to thrive
Family Action taking action 3
Families and poverty Family dynamics Families today Family and community wellbeing
Families and change
Families and poverty
Family Action Fund
In November 2022 we launched our ‘Family Action Fund’ grant programme to support families struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
We wanted to be able to provide practical support to families as quickly as possible and disinvested some of our own funds to be able to do so, match funding this with corporate partners including a significant gift from CVC. We distributed £200 grants in the form of supermarket vouchers to 2,500 vulnerable families through our services and 31 partner organisations, providing a lifeline to people struggling with food insecurity.
explains how her grant has made a difference
Make Theirs Magic
We know many families struggle with the additional financial and emotional pressures of the festive season.
Our services during Make Theirs Magic
91%
of staff who applied for grants for families think that the grant has helped families to feel more positive about the future
81%
Due to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, we knew many families who were already struggling were having to make impossible decisions, such as whether to heat their home, purchase food or buy their children a present. Our ‘Make Theirs Magic’ campaign highlighted the needs of families and, through our Toy Appeal, provided children with a gift when otherwise they may have had nothing.
50%
11,733
of adults were expecting to be going without things such as food, heating and presents at Christmas because of the cost-of-living crisis
“Your fund has been a lifeline for some of our clients… [it has] helped them through some of the most difficult times in their lives. We do not have access to another fund like this.”
presents
of staff who have applied for a grant for a family they work with feel that the grant has prevented escalation of needs delivered in 2022 to the families we work with across 96 services, a 41% increase in requests for presents from our services than in 2021
“The Toy Appeal takes the pressure off the parents… It allows them to say their children have gotten something. All the kids who received one just loved it… their faces lit up.”
Family Action taking action 4
Shelley
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Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty
Family and community wellbeing Find out more Find out more
Families and change
Family dynamics
Birth Parent Support
Our adoption support agency, PAC-UK, provides specialist support to all parties affected by adoption and permanency.
Each year, we support over 500 birth parents of adopted children, who feel they are portrayed as ‘bad’ people, when often they are vulnerable because of a learning disability, mental health issues, domestic abuse, or poverty. We have been working with birth parents to make sure their voices are heard. In June 2022, we accompanied birth parents to a House of Lords Children and Families Act Committee roundtable, to share their experiences of adoption.
Birth parents share their stories of the adoption process
Adoption Support
As well as amplifying the voices of birth parents, PAC-UK have promoted understanding between the different parties in adoption.
During Adoption Week 2022, birth parents, adopted people and adopters were brought together to share ideas and find common ground.
Learn more about the ‘Big Consult’ survey findings
71+
71% of birth parents say the support they received during the adoption process was poor
“The speed of the process overwhelmed me, I felt my daughter was going to be adopted no matter what. I searched high and low for support and came across PAC-UK, who from the start have been a lifeline for me.”
We also conducted a national survey with birth parents and adult adoptees, the Big Consult, to understand their experiences of the process of adoption, subsequent contact and the support they feel is needed.
Over 60% of birth families and adult adoptees were not aware of any support services in their area for them currently
61% of adult adoptees
66% of birth families
“I’m adopted and it colours many aspects of my life… early therapy would have enabled me to see some of my more destructive traits.”
Family Action taking action 5
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Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty Family and community wellbeing Families and change Find out more Find out more
Families today
FamilyLine
Four years ago, we launched FamilyLine, a telephone and web-based service for anyone to use if they need help with family pressures.
FamilyLine provides a service that people across the country can use for a listening ear and trusted support. We have been supported by our partner LV= General Insurance to expand the availability of befriending and counselling since we started working together in 2021, meeting growing demand on the service. This work was ‘Highly Commended’ at the Charity Times Awards 2022.
148%
more calls made to FamilyLine between Feb 22 and Feb 23 than in the previous year
“I felt like I was at breaking point…I was having an anxiety attack on the living room floor…But then I called FamilyLine… I could cry if I needed to, and I could honestly say whatever I was feeling.”
Creating Happy Memories
Family Action’s annual summer campaign focuses on encouraging families and friends to make happy memories.
In 2022, we focused on the important role of play in children’s development and supporting adults to overcome practical and emotional barriers to playing with the children in their lives. For the first time ever, and with the support of Fisher-Price (TM) Play Lab, we followed the campaign with a ‘Play Programme’, designed to share early years expertise, practical tips and simple activities for families to build play into the everyday
After using the Play Programme
87%
of parents felt they had access to enough of the right information about how to spend good quality play time with their child, up from 50% before using the programme
“You can’t underestimate the power of play… but that power is only unlocked when we don’t try to turn play into work and instead recognise children’s instinctive curiosity and playfulness.”
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Hear from a volunteer about working on FamilyLine
Explore a snapshot of our Play Programme
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volunteer counsellors available in 2022, up from 2 in 2021
18
Family Action taking action 6 Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty Family and community wellbeing Families and change Find out more Find out more
Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty
Family and community and wellbeing
Social Value at our FOOD Clubs
Social Value is the impact organisations create for the economy, communities, and society.
As a charity, creating and delivering Social Value runs through everything we do, but it is especially noticeable in our Food On Our Doorstep (FOOD) Clubs. Families can access goodquality food at a low cost, while also reducing food waste and being signposted to other services. Using volunteers, working with partners and the environmental benefits of the Clubs all contribute to Family Action’s and our partners’ social value.
See how our FOOD Clubs work
National School Breakfast Programme
The National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP), funded by the Department for Education, launched in 2021 in its current form.
The NSBP’s impact for Bramcote College
tonnestonnes
“[People] just come in completely broken, want to offload, and they know that I’m the first person they’ll see. I think that’s one of the areas where we go above and beyond… I can point [people] towards useful general services.”
Family Action has worked hard to ensure the learning we had following the pandemic has been fed into this version of the Programme. In June 2022, over 270,000 children were receiving a healthy and nutritious breakfast every school day, which has been proven to have health and educational benefits. Since then, the NSBP has become the largest it has ever been, with 2,500 schools recruited to the programme.
“Working in partnership with the NSBP has been, and continues to be, incredible. Providing a breakfast… ensures all children have food and are ready to embrace the day and make the most of every moment.”
Nationa Find out more Find out more
School Breakfast Programme
Family Action taking action 7
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200
In 2021 Southend Food Clubs saved of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere 68 CO2 *from 911 responses to this question in our Head Teacher Survey of schools that have been recruited to the NSBP since July 2021
Family and
84% of food from landfill wellbeing
of Headteachers say they have seen a reduction in inappropriate food coming into school since starting the NSBP* Families
community
and change
Families and change
Perinatal Support Services
Becoming a parent is a time of huge change for every family.
Family Action’s Perinatal Support Services provide early support for those with low to moderate level mental health issues or who are at risk of developing perinatal mental illness. Our services aim to improve mental health, attachment, parenting confidence, and social support networks. They have been running for over 10 years, and most recently we worked with the Institute for Health Visiting to evaluate our Stockton service.
88% of parents using our Stockton service now feel more confident in their parenting skills
Friendship Works
Our Friendship Works service matches volunteer mentors to vulnerable children and young people, providing them with access to new opportunities and experiences.
78% of parents using our Stockton service felt more connected to others
The service aims to build selfconfidence and resilience so that children and young people are better equipped to manage adversity now and in the future. Mentors and young people meet at least three times a month over a minimum of two years. We recently worked with Research Partners to evaluate the service.
91%
91+
of children and young people have high hopes for their futures after receiving support from Friendship Works
79%
think their ability to weigh up decisions has been improved
“Lots of professionals are involved with me but [my mentor] is different. Out of everyone that I talk to, me and my mentor have got a really good bond. I’m able to open up to her about anything.”
Family Action taking action 8
Vicky Gilroy, Head of Projects and Evaluation, iHV Hear from those who use Friendship Works
“If I do ever feel overwhelmed or not quite right, I can reach out and get help. I don’t feel anxious about doing that anymore.”
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Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty Family and community wellbeing Families and change Find out more Find out more
Beyond Family Action
We are proud of the support we have given families this year, but we are aware we cannot do this alone.
We work with a wide range of people and organisations to ensure we develop best practice, stay innovative and co-produce our work to deliver what people want and need. We also want to make sure those voices are heard at the highest level so that local and national policy and funding decisions have the best outcomes for families.
As the largest provider of SENDIAS services in the country, we have been particularly interested in the Government’s SEND Review and Implementation Plan.
“The SEND review needs to have a systemic approach, and not just focus on the education of the child, but on a holistic approach for the whole family.”
Family Action taking action 9
David talks about what is needed for families to thrive
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Families today Family dynamics Families and poverty Family and community wellbeing Families and change Find out more
Family Action is a charity committed to building stronger families and brighter lives. We provide innovative and effective services and support to many of the UK‘s most vulnerable people, helping individuals, families and communities address the challenges they face through practical, emotional and financial support. If you would like to find out more about Family Action’s work, please visit our website.
Take action with us
Family Action Head Office, 34 Wharf Road, London, N1 7GR
T: 020 7254 6251 E: info@family-action.org.uk W: family-action.org.uk
Names have been changed for anonymity throughout this report.
Registered as a Charity in England & Wales no: 264713. Registered as a Charity in the Isle of Man no: 1206. Registered Company Limited by Guarantee in England and Wales no: 01068186. Patron: HRH The Princess of Wales. Chair: Ian Hargrave. Chief Executive: David Holmes CBE.
