Stephanie Whyte
Director of Services, Barnardos Ireland
Learn how more families from a wider range of backgrounds are seeking support.
Previously, Barnardos found most service users were from specific social catchments, particularly after the job losses and mortgage arrears that followed the financial crash of the noughties. With the current cost-of-living crisis, it is seeing families across the social spectrum come forward for help.
Family stress impact
Barnardos Director of Services Stephanie Whyte reflected on how that demographic has changed since she joined the organisation in 2008. “Today, the stresses on family life have become more common, irrespective of social background,” she says. “There is growing recognition that it is okay to reach out for help; we encourage people to do that.”
The charity works with children, parents and carers in 56 locations. While children remain the primary service users, the charity provides services in homes, schools and communities as it can be parents, teachers, health workers or people in a community that raise concerns about a child, often because of behavioural changes.
We put support in place to enable
them to achieve their full potential.
Adverse childhood experiences
The types of adverse childhood experiences affecting them are parental mental health challenges, family conflict, poor relationships, marital breakdown, bereavement, poverty, addiction or homelessness. Children can feel sad, disappointed, upset and confused and withdraw or have angry outbursts. Whyte explains: “The children we work with are vulnerable in the sense that there is a concern about them not achieving their potential, so we put support in place to enable them to achieve their full potential.”
As parents may have had similar adverse childhood experiences, the charity aims to break that cycle in families, with support workers helping parents and children understand and manage their feelings and emotions. “At the core is the emotional and social wellbeing of children,” says Whyte. “We fundamentally believe that the safest place for a child to grow and develop is in a positive, nurturing relationship with their parents.”
Meeting care needs
Barnardos school-based programmes focus on ‘breath, body and mind’ with breathing and movement exercises to calm children down, as well as strategies to help them develop and keep friends. Whyte says children need their daily care needs met such as clothing and shelter; require good supervision; and see their “talents encouraged, fostered and explored.”
The charity offers community-based initiatives too. While its services have grown by around 25% in Ireland in recent years, there are still waiting lists for those needing support as the organisation focuses on long-term solutions for vulnerable children.
