Support for families on the edge of care
Support for families on the edge of care
Author
Introduction
The number of children entering the care system is increasing every year. These children are often removed from their families due to perceived risks to their safety or because their parents are unable to look after them. Many of these parents were themselves victims of significant harm and experienced great trauma when they were children, which affects their ability to parent well.
2022 Award
Jadwiga Leigh is the CEO of New Beginnings Foundation CIO, an organisation that supports families on the edge of care. Through its 24-week trauma-informed programme, New Beginnings Foundation helps parents to reflect on past trauma, understand more about themselves and explore ways of making progress and keeping families together. At present, the organisation uses a paper workbook to accompany this programme, with information and resources for parents to read and respond to. However, many of these parents have struggled to read and complete the workbook due to a lack of skills in reading, writing and comprehension.
Jadwiga has been awarded one of our Activate grants to contract a designer to transform New Beginnings Foundation’s paper workbook into a digital interactive resource that meets the learning needs of the ever-growing numbers of parents with whom they work. The funding will enable the designer to meet a working group of parents who have already been through the programme, to understand what the parents found challenging about the paper workbook, what they need to help them understand and complete it, and how this might be best delivered digitally. The designer will then create a digitally accessible and user-friendly workbook with interactive, engaging and informative content presented in different ways, such as an audio-visual version. Each week, parents will be asked to note the one thing that they have taken away from the session they have completed, to help embed their learning, which they can refer back to at any time. Throughout the development process, the designer will continue to consult with the working group to ensure the content is being presented accessibly, clearly and effectively.
Jadwiga hopes that the development of this digital resource will create a tool that parents want to engage with and that will aid their learning and understanding of the New Beginnings programme.
Jadwiga’s Fellowship explored ways to support families on the edge of care.
2022 Award
Jadwiga Leigh is the CEO of New Beginnings Foundation CIO, an organisation that supports families on the edge of care. Through its 24-week trauma-informed programme, New Beginnings Foundation helps parents to reflect on past trauma, understand more about themselves and explore ways of making progress and keeping families together. At present, the organisation uses a paper workbook to accompany this programme, with information and resources for parents to read and respond to. However, many of these parents have struggled to read and complete the workbook due to a lack of skills in reading, writing and comprehension.
Jadwiga has been awarded one of our Activate grants to contract a designer to transform New Beginnings Foundation’s paper workbook into a digital interactive resource that meets the learning needs of the ever-growing numbers of parents with whom they work. The funding will enable the designer to meet a working group of parents who have already been through the programme, to understand what the parents found challenging about the paper workbook, what they need to help them understand and complete it, and how this might be best delivered digitally. The designer will then create a digitally accessible and user-friendly workbook with interactive, engaging and informative content presented in different ways, such as an audio-visual version. Each week, parents will be asked to note the one thing that they have taken away from the session they have completed, to help embed their learning, which they can refer back to at any time. Throughout the development process, the designer will continue to consult with the working group to ensure the content is being presented accessibly, clearly and effectively.
Jadwiga hopes that the development of this digital resource will create a tool that parents want to engage with and that will aid their learning and understanding of the New Beginnings programme.
Jadwiga’s Fellowship explored ways to support families on the edge of care.