Government Policy...

There is a wealth of research and knowledge surrounding the benefits of supporting families in their own communities and by enabling families who may be separated because of poor parenting prognosis to experience positive programmes to enrich their lives. This in turn may have longer term benefits in decreasing the number of children in care, inducing better outcomes for education, improving life skills and work opportunities, reducing anti-social behaviour and have the effect of greater overall physical health, mental and emotional stability which in turn creates positive personal relationships. The cycle of depression and despair may be broken and a cycle of inspiration and hope instilled in its place.

The recent Public Law Outline, the Every Child Matters and the Green Paper and Tourism strategies including local Parenting Support strategies strongly relates to positive changes in partnership developments between the statutory, charitable and independent sectors.

These include partnerships with family support services, grandparent schemes, youth services, mentoring schemes parenting training programmes and so on. This is a crucial development in the overall care and support of children and their families as by creating innovative community based programmes we can see major changes in the overall desired outcome of eradicating social exclusion.

From the Every Child Matters outcome framework we aim to achieve the following:

• Be Healthy
• Stay Safe
• Enjoy and Achieve
• Make a positive contribution
• Achieve economic well-being

Extracts taken from Tony Blair’s foreword in the Respect-Action Plan

“Stable families and strong cohesive communities are important for children, young people and adults. They are the essential foundation within which individual potential is realised, quality of life maximised and our social and economic wellbeing served”.

“The Respect-Action Plan is about taking a broader approach. It recognises that, as well as enforcement we have to focus on the causes of anti-social behaviour, which lie in families, in the classroom and in communities.”

Anti-social behaviour tools and powers: a guide May 2008 (Home Office, Youth Justice Board)

“……………it is essential that the right intervention, or combination of interventions is used at the right time. Enforcement should be matched with support for the perpetrator, where necessary, to tackle the cause of their anti-social behaviour. Where applicable, these interventions should be used incrementally as independent reports have shown that this is what works”.

Veritas Residential Supported Breaks are innovative and creative programmes designed to tackle some of the causes of anti-social behaviour.