Archive for the ‘Guardian’ Category
Family Intervention Projects
During the last two decades, members of the Walker family, in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, had been causing trouble for their neighbours, the council, the police and local schools. But because the issues were dealt with by separate agencies, nobody fully appreciated the cumulative impact the family was having.
“Lots had been spent [to sort things out], but none of it was joined-up or co-ordinated”, says Keith Aubrey, Melton borough council’s corporate director of community support. “As a result, we didn’t realise how big the file on the family was.”
It turned out that in one year up to 60 repairs were needed to the nine-strong family’s council house; complaints led to neighbourhood officers being called out twice a week; unpaid debts ended up in court; and the local headteacher was battling to get the children on the “straight and narrow”. But after 15 months on one of the government’s Family Intervention Projects (FIPs), the Walkers have been transformed.
Intergenerational working
Robert Bullard The Guardian, Wednesday April 9 2008
Studley, in Warwickshire, is a village that on the surface has no shortage of facilities for young people; there are sports clubs, youth clubs and a leisure centre. But many local teenagers complained that the prices were too high, leaving them with little choice but to hang around the streets. Until recently, many villagers regarded them as typical of modern youngsters: hanging around and probably using bad language and being disruptive. But all that changed when a new project, pioneered by Stratford-on-Avon district council, attempted to bridge the generation gap between young and old.
Joanne Rooke, the council’s community engagement officer, says young people in rural areas can get drawn into antisocial behaviour because there is often little for them to do, which is compounded by a lack of trust between younger and older generations. She spearheaded the first phase of the intergenerational scheme in autumn 2006 with a cookery project, bringing together a group of 14 boys and older men.
Kinship care
Many grandparents these days find themselves bringing up grandchildren – but financial help from councils is hard to come by Robert Bullard The Guardian, Wednesday April 2 2008
For the UK’s estimated 150,000-300,000 kinship carers, it remains a lottery as to what, if any, support they receive.
June Cotier was approaching 65 and looking forward to retirement and doing some travelling. Then she got a phone call: her youngest son had split up with his wife and he and his two children, aged one and two, were coming to stay. Over the following months, her son moved from one girlfriend to the next; the children went with him, but returned to Cotier in between. Then Cotier’s son suddenly disappeared. That was 10 years ago, and the children have been with her ever since.
Brought to restorative justice
An imam and prison chaplain who draws on the story of Joseph is helping inmates comprehend how their crimes affect victims
Robert Bullard The Guardian, Wednesday March 5 2008
Soon after Mohamed el Sharkawy, an imam, was appointed chaplain of the Mount prison in Hertfordshire, inmates from several different religions started to approach him. “They felt the prison’s justice awareness course imposed Christianity upon them,” he says. “I told them it wasn’t true. But I believe we need to work together if we are to strengthen our society. So I started to develop a course to help them, using the story of Joseph, because it was mentioned in the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an.”
The Mount is a category D establishment for low-risk prisoners. Of the 750 or so inmates, 60% are from ethnic minorities, and 51% are non-Christians. The story of Joseph – his imprisonment, release, forgiveness and reconciliation with his family – was one the inmates knew and could relate to, explains Egyptian-born El Sharkawy. “Joseph uses his time in prison, and when he leaves he applies for the highest position. He did not bow his head because he was a prisoner.”
Altered images
Young people and local politicians are using their mobiles to help change attitudes and share lives
Robert Bullard
Wednesday July 19, 2006
Five young people and five councillors in Norfolk have used their mobile phones in an effort to engage more young people in the region’s democratic process. They have taken photos that illustrate their everyday lives and shared them online (www.norfolklifeswap.org.uk).
Vivienne Clifford-Jackson, Liberal Democrat leader of South Norfolk district council, says using mobile phones offered the district council and Norfolk county council, which is also taking part, a way to reach out to young people using a method and language that they were used to. “We tend to think of young people as just a nuisance, and where crime comes from,” she says.
