A ‘lifesaving’ and ‘invaluable’ charity which supports hundreds of city families through tough emotional circumstances is being forced to make huge cuts to its services.
Home Start Milton Keynes is having to close three of its four support groups, in Grange Farm, Bletchley and Heelands, next month. One in Newport Pagnell already closed in March.
In the last financial year, the charity provided emotional and practical support to 179 families, including 402 children, across the city. Since April this year, 122 families, including 255 youngsters, have already sought help.
But the closure of the three groups means the charity will have to turn away 45 vulnerable families it would have been able to support for longer than nine months.
The groups, as well as a home visit service, offer support, advice and a listening ear to families struggling to cope with issues such as sick children and other situations which make parents feel in need of support.
Steph Ellis, senior coordinator for Milton Keynes, said: “It costs just £8,000 to keep one group open for one year, which is not a lot really, and this would mean 15 families will get nine months plus of support.
“The families have issues such as post-natal depression and isolation. We have quite a few sick parents with things like cancer, and we help some very, very sick children. We also have a lot of mothers who have left it quite late to have children, which is a total lifestyle change.”
The fourth group, Hedgerows in Netherfield, will remain open, but is only guaranteed for another six months.
Staff hours at Home Start will also be reduced, with one worker losing 12 hours and the equivalent of another 20-hour post being cut.
The charity discovered in January this year its Government Sure Start funding would be stopped on April 1.
Since then it has spent a lot of time exploring alternative options and has submitted 12 funding applications in the past six months, but has so far failed to find any extra cash.
Hayley Roberson, who has taken her son to Hedgerows since he was three months old, made an emotional plea for more money to be found to support the charity.
She said: “I don’t think people realise how good they are. Home Start needs this funding, otherwise a lot of families are going to be sad and lonely. I want people to understand what they do and that they really need this funding.”
The scheme’s chairman John Nicolson said the charity has received comments from parents expressing their gratitude and calling the groups a ‘lifesaver’ and ‘invaluable’.
He added: “We very much regret that we have no alternative but to restructure the scheme.”
Source http://www.mk-news.co.uk/
Home Start Milton Keynes is having to close three of its four support groups, in Grange Farm, Bletchley and Heelands, next month. One in Newport Pagnell already closed in March.
In the last financial year, the charity provided emotional and practical support to 179 families, including 402 children, across the city. Since April this year, 122 families, including 255 youngsters, have already sought help.
But the closure of the three groups means the charity will have to turn away 45 vulnerable families it would have been able to support for longer than nine months.
The groups, as well as a home visit service, offer support, advice and a listening ear to families struggling to cope with issues such as sick children and other situations which make parents feel in need of support.
Steph Ellis, senior coordinator for Milton Keynes, said: “It costs just £8,000 to keep one group open for one year, which is not a lot really, and this would mean 15 families will get nine months plus of support.
“The families have issues such as post-natal depression and isolation. We have quite a few sick parents with things like cancer, and we help some very, very sick children. We also have a lot of mothers who have left it quite late to have children, which is a total lifestyle change.”
The fourth group, Hedgerows in Netherfield, will remain open, but is only guaranteed for another six months.
Staff hours at Home Start will also be reduced, with one worker losing 12 hours and the equivalent of another 20-hour post being cut.
The charity discovered in January this year its Government Sure Start funding would be stopped on April 1.
Since then it has spent a lot of time exploring alternative options and has submitted 12 funding applications in the past six months, but has so far failed to find any extra cash.
Hayley Roberson, who has taken her son to Hedgerows since he was three months old, made an emotional plea for more money to be found to support the charity.
She said: “I don’t think people realise how good they are. Home Start needs this funding, otherwise a lot of families are going to be sad and lonely. I want people to understand what they do and that they really need this funding.”
The scheme’s chairman John Nicolson said the charity has received comments from parents expressing their gratitude and calling the groups a ‘lifesaver’ and ‘invaluable’.
He added: “We very much regret that we have no alternative but to restructure the scheme.”
Source http://www.mk-news.co.uk/
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