SAVE THE FAMILY, WALES
Save the Family in Flintshire has provided accommodation for thousands of people in vulnerable families for the last 30 years. Nestled on the Cheshire border, the charity runs a small village of cottages and flatsthat house families and children that onced lived in clapped-out cars, caravans, garden sheds or B&Bs.
Edna Speed MBE founder says, "When a family is evicted what are we supposed to do? Look the other way while the kids scream and are wrenched from their mothers? Families do not become homeless by choice. Maybe one of the parents has hit a crisis point."
Save the Family intervene, provide security and structure and ensure children grow up with their family and not in care.
The red tape surrounding an eviction would be a headache for the most administratively attuned family. But many of the mother's Save the Family help never completed school, are illiterate and often quite chaotic.
"The unique feature of this charity," Edman continues, "is that it offers all residents the opportunity of facing up to the reasons that made them homeless and then to tackle each reason by developing a pathway to resettlement."
The charity have a kid's centre, anger-management courses and equip families to deal with debt. Facilities include an allotment, garden, woodland and football pitch.
The successes are huge. Children destined for care or adoption have been kept with their parents, children in care have been able to return to their parents, fathers have been reunited with families and gone into productive employment, while other mothers have been able to leave abusive relationships.
For more information on Save the Family visit www.savethefamily.uk.com
