Under the line

One of my work colleagues has been living on £1 a day for all food and drink for 5 days. She is taking part in 'Live Below the Line' a global challenge to show solidarity with people in extreme poverty, raise money to eliminate global poverty and experience what life is like for people on very low incomes.

She had to plan how to spend her £5 very carefully checking what she could and could not afford to buy. She didn't allow herself to use her store cupboard except for salt and spices. Normally she eats a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, these were immediately unaffordable, instead she bought a bag of diced frozen vegetables. She found that tinned potatoes were a cheap alternative to fresh. She also bought a bag of cheap teabags but milk was too expensive so she drank it black. She has found it an eye opening experience and very boring so is looking forward to return to normal after 5 days.

The Trussell Trust Newcastle West End food bank is now the largest in the country, since 2009 demand has increased 8,000% so it now distributes 4 tons of food every week. Everyone receiving food has been referred by a care professional such as doctors, health visitors, social workers, Citizens Advice Bureau staff, welfare officers, the police and probation officers who issue people in crisis a food bank voucher. Clients bring their voucher to the food bank where it can be exchanged for three days supply of emergency food. Food parcels have been designed by dieticians to provide recipients with nutritionally balanced food.

It is very hard to imagine why people would not prioritise buying food. The All Party Parliamentary Group on Hunger and Food Poverty, chaired by Frank Field found that the answer is simple. If you have limited income you will pay your rent first because otherwise you will be evicted. You will pay for gas and electricity otherwise they will be cut off. If your children are entitled to free school meals you know they will get one meal a day during the school day, families Children North East know will prepare one meal a day at teatime. During the school holidays they prioritise food for the children and the parents live on leftovers or go without.

Teenagers are citizens too

This week I've signed an open letter to broadcasters to ask politicians what they will do for children in care in the forthcoming leader's debates. The letter is part of Children England's #ChildrenAtHeart campaign to ensure political parties consider the needs of children in their policies.  I've written before that children are citizens, but its worth repeating. Just because they don't have the vote doesn't mean they aren't important.

The sign of civilised society is one that protects and supports the vulnerable. Children are vulnerable because they are powerless - they don't have political or economic power; and are therefore dependent on the rest of us. The letter is about children in care because they are the most vulnerable of all children and actually the state has more responsibility for them as 'Corporate Parent' having total responsibility for them while they are in care.

Kathy Evans, Chief Executive at Children England recently wrote a wonderful piece in Children and Young People Now magazine reminding us of the hysterical rejection of young people during the first decade of this century - anyone in a 'hoodie' was feared and despised. Of course it's not new that young people in the teenage years have perplexed adults but some public attitudes towards young people would not be tolerated if expressed towards say women, disabled people or racial groups.

Sarah Jayne Blakemore is professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London. She explains how new brain imaging techniques have made us realise the huge, fundamental changes that take place in human brains between puberty and the mid 20's. Changes and growth as dramatic as happens in the brains of babies and toddlers.

Current public policy is to concentrate resources to children and parents in the 'early years' i.e. pregnancy, babies and children up to age 4. The argument being that investment at that stage of life has good long term benefits. This is true, but Professor Blakemore's research suggests an equally strong case for youth services, secondary education (and probably parents of teenagers too). This is particularly important today when council support for youth services has all but disappeared in many local authorities.

I wish that politicians would take note of the growing body of knowledge about young people's brains in formulating policy for this important group of young citizens.

Families United

Last Friday I spent the day 'on the shop floor' with some of our families and parenting staff at the end of an intensive course of work with several families - parents and young people. We call the course 'Families United' and it runs every day for a whole week during school holidays. The whole family is invited to come along. In the morning session the parents meet in one room while the children are in another room. At lunchtime everyone joins together with the staff for sandwiches followed by fun activities for the families all together in the afternoon.

The morning sessions for parents include some teaching for example about brain development of children, what children and young people need from their family to grow up well and parenting skills but also time to share and reflect on their experiences of growing up, how they learnt about parenting, what it means to them to be a parent, what they feel about their children and so on. If you've ever been on an intensive training week (on any subject) you will know that they can be a very powerful experience.

Meanwhile the children are engaged in creative activities with staff while talking about similar topics. Being so closely involved with the families, the staff can encourage parents and children to try out new ways of relating to each other and to praise attempts to be different. At the end of each day the staff have a debriefing sharing observations and understandings of children and parents so that everyone can encourage and reinforce changed behaviours.

Last Friday was the final day so I was privileged to sit in on the final sessions and hear parents share the things they had learned that they intend to keep going. At lunch it was evident that relationships between some family members had begun to heal during the week. After lunch the staff gave everyone a gift as well as framed photographs taken during the week and certificates to congratulate everyone on completing the week.

One thing which struck me was the importance of respect in family life. Families are held together by very strong attachments and children rely absolutely on their parent(s) for survival until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Yet we cannot take those ties for granted, it is too easy to verbally abuse and continually put down those closest to us just because they are there. Civility and mutual respect are the oil that enables families to meet the needs of everyone in the family, which is after all what families are for.