Andrews Charitable Trust
In 2009, Andrews Charitable Trust (ACT) set up a pilot programme to look at the role of parenting support in helping to tackle and prevent homelessness.
As part of their portfolio of work in Bristol, ACT funded Shelter to launch a bespoke Intensive Family Support Service in the city.
The service provides intensive home-based support to eight local families over a period of up to two years. Parents get training in parenting skills - both in peer groups and from a home-based key worker.
Shelter’s Bristol Housing Support Services Manager Karen MacVean said:
‘This service will help vulnerable families, including teenage and young parents, who have complex needs, and the holistic programme helps the Intensive Family Support worker to address the needs of the whole family unit.
‘We are very grateful to ACT for giving us the chance to show how we can make a real difference to families who are in an ongoing cycle of poverty and bad housing’.
Siân Edwards, ACT’s Director said:
‘ACT is delighted that Shelter agreed to become part of this wider pilot programme. Their Bristol Service has been a sector leader in the promotion of more holistic support for homeless families through their Homeless-to-Home and Keys to the Future projects.
‘This will allow Shelter to work with more complex families for longer and encourages families to engage with a group of other specialist services. This has to be a good thing, in order to minimise the impact of homelessness on children whose lives are so badly affected by it’.
