A new Edinburgh Befriending Consortium set up to work with children who have been affected by parental substance misuse has just been awarded over £76,000. The three charities involved are CHILDREN 1ST, The Broomhouse Centre and Sunflower Garden, and funding for the first year is coming from Corra Foundation’s Partnership Drugs Initiative (PDI).
Sandy Corlett, Service Manager for CHILDREN 1ST, said: “All three charities work in different areas across Edinburgh and have experience of supporting and befriending children living with parental substance misuse. By working in partnership we are able to make sure children receive a consistent approach regardless of where they live as we’ll jointly deliver training for befrienders. It also lets us all learn from experience in other areas of the city and share what works. Around 60 children a year will benefit and the aim is to help them improve social skills and family relationships, build their resilience, and improve their engagement with school.”
The PDI is a partnership between the Foundation and the Scottish Government. Elaine Wilson, PDI Programme Manager, said: “The Edinburgh Befriending Consortium was formed after the lack of an Edinburgh-wide approach to befriending for vulnerable youngsters was highlighted by the local Alcohol and Drug Partnership. It is great to see a strong partnership delivering work that the individual groups involved would struggle to do by themselves. This means local children have an even better chance of being given the positive opportunities they deserve, and that’s good for them, their families and the whole community.”
This is the second award to CHILDREN 1ST for work in Edinburgh since 2011, bringing the total support for local youngsters to just over £123,000. Across Scotland CHILDREN 1ST has received over £1,185,000 since 2002. These latest awards bring the total funding delivered through the PDI to over £18.6 million since 2000, and the services this has supported have all been aimed at having a positive long term impact on the children and young people involved.
