- Area:
- North East England
- Programme:
- Reaching Communities
- Release date:
- 16 10 2012
Families experiencing the upheaval caused by relationship breakdown are to be supported by a new mediation project set up thanks to a £212,097 grant from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG).
Families Talking will help parents and children across the Tees Valley address problems including conflict, debt and children’s behaviour as a result of the distress caused by a difficult break-up. The funding for the Middlesbrough-based charity comes from BIG’s flagship Reaching Communities programme which builds stronger communities.
The project will provide mediation sessions which may include extended family members to identify where change is having a detrimental impact on their lives. Plans will be agreed so families can resolve the problems together to cause the least amount of upset to all concerned. A children’s counsellor will provide specialist support to help with emotional upset and any impact on their performance at school. The project will also recruit and set up peer support groups with parents and young people trained to support each other.
Families Talking General Manager Elizabeth Allison explained the project is aimed at families who are unable to access legal aid funding and unable to pay for legal or mediation services themselves.
She said: “Our project is a mediation service which aims to resolve family separation and resulting disputes without the need to go to court. From April solicitors will not be able to provide legal advice for free as legal aid is being taken away from private family law matters. We have no idea what the impact of this reform will be but we are trying to be ahead of the game as we do anticipate a rise in the number of families seeking mediation services.
“The recession has put extra pressure on families across Teesside. The loss of jobs has had a particular impact here and local authorities have had to take hard decisions and statutory services have been cut.
“Children can be innocent pawns in disputes and the particularly distressing break-ups or divorce can lead to truancy, bed-wetting, bad behaviour and sometimes alcohol abuse. The problems parents need to resolve can be access to children, child maintenance payments, who owns particular debts and credit card bills and even access to grandparents who we often involve in discussions. Sometimes the best interests of the child get lost in the parents conflict. But once we can get parents to agree to sit down and talk that marks a great turning point and 70 per cent of families we work with reach an agreement outside of court.”
The project will help families in Middlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar & Cleveland, Hartlepool and Darlington.
James Turner, Big Lottery Fund’s Head of the North East region, said: “Family breakdown is not only distressing but it can have long-term effects on matters like finances, relationships with extended family members as well as the emotional and academic development of children. This Reaching Communities grant will help develop a charity that has already demonstrated success in resolving matters outside court.”
Further information
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
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Notes to Editors
- The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded over £4.4bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £28 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.