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Keeping Children and Parents in Contact since 1974
Annual Report 2006 - Supporting you better (March 2007)
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Contents
Foreword from John Baker
Accounts
Lobbying and Campaigning
Branches
McKenzie
Membership
Parent Support Workshops
Website
Internet forums
Helpline
Is it ‘all change’ at FNF?
There is no doubt that the growth in external funding is changing the way we do things at FNF. There are many benefits that this brings – not least the opportunity to reach out to more people and provide them with the help that they need. With increased resources we can increase awareness of what we do and provide better services for our members.
Much has been made of the ‘professionalisation’ of FNF thanks to our capacity building grant from the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). But what does this actually mean? Until now FNF has been managed and steered by a voluntary board of trustees as well as FNF' s members, with not a jot of ‘professional’ management support in sight. Did this make us amateur?
Obviously not. Relying entirely on our remarkable voluntary resources, we have provided up to 100,000 services over the past year. There are not many voluntary organisations that can claim this and it is something we can all be truly proud of.
Yet there is a further unmet need for FNF’s services. Each year around 280,000 parental couples separate and three million children in the UK have experienced the separation of their parents. Despite the sterling efforts of our volunteers our helpline is only able to answer 50% of the calls it receives. And we know that there are millions of people who haven’t even heard of us – and how would we have been able to cope if they had? Knowing our limitations has forced us to hold back slightly, albeit it logistically rather than with our hearts.
FNF needs to build its capacity and step in to relieve the burden on overstretched resources as well as finding ways of increasing them. This can be achieved through a professional management structure, improved and more efficient infrastructure provision, a sustainable strategy for growth, and greater administrative support. By building on what we already have and supporting the existing network of volunteers better we can collectively spread the word and bring more people in to the fold.
With the onset of the DfES grant that began in April 2006, we have hired a dynamic and committed new CEO who will fly the flag for our cause at many levels as well as nurture and encourage the true spirit of FNF and its members. In conjunction with the National Council, he will set the agenda for the next few years and ensure that the organisation has a growth strategy that is sustainable. He will also spearhead the membership drive, ensuring that not only will more people seek our services, but that we can also increase our reach to (amongst others) black and minority ethnic communities and underrepresented faith communities.
With a Policy and Information Officer we can now work proactively to input into all relevant consultations, and provide a central contact point for the media and other organisations. We can also shape and become a resource for any research that will help us support our case. An additional Administrative Officer joins the existing office team to ensure that all membership enquiries are efficiently channelled and that the wider team is able to take on a greater development role. These are to include new projects such as activities with The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Services (CAFCASS), schools, family resource centres and local authorities, breaking down barriers to parenting as we go. New offices and equipment allow those that work within the organisation to operate far more effectively and with extra space for volunteers to come and work alongside without the underlying threat of backache or repetitive strain injury!
With the extra funds we are now able to ‘market’ ourselves better, and we hope that you will see the growth in the visibility of FNF at every level. We are going to become an organisation which is recognised as the credible source of information and support both by individuals seeking help, and by external parties with whom we can work to achieve our agenda of shared parenting.
But at the end of the day, this office still only consists of a handful (albeit committed and driven) ‘professionals’ who need to take a ‘loaves and fishes’ approach to their work. It will therefore be their task to provide a service not only to FNF’s beneficiaries, but also to its greatest resource of all – its volunteers. There will be no talk of a ‘Head Office’ – we are the ‘FNF Office’ through which we will make sure that volunteers are motivated, supported, and given the resources they require.
By doing this, we hope that many more will be encouraged to join our team of volunteers united in trying to help newcomers avoid some of the agonies and pitfalls that we may ourselves have encountered in our quest to reach a workable parenting arrangement.
Other organisations have accused us of ‘selling out’ by taking government money. This will not happen. Indeed our message will be even stronger as we grow and prosper.
The members will be the judge.
We hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel for all of us – for those of us that cannot reach it in our own circumstances, we endeavour to change it at a wider level for future generations. And that is what unites us all. ‘Professional’, ‘amateur’, ‘volunteer’ – call us what you will – the heart of FNF remains where it should.
Foreword from John Baker
Families Need Fathers has two objectives. The first is social care work. This is to help children get the benefits of having the love and care of both parents by helping and supporting the parent (and often the extended family too) that they do not see enough of. The second is to change attitudes, so that the rights of children whose parents live apart are better recognised in this respect.
Our long term strategy is that the social welfare work should be supported by government, charitable trusts and the like. The services would still need to be provided by our volunteers but things like accommodation, training, equipment, refund of expenses should be picked up by those agencies that fund welfare work, as they are in so many other cases.
Our membership fees should therefore go into changing policy and practice. The destructive effects of the loss of a parent would be stopped at source. Parental separation is never going to be a positive thing, but if it does not involve loss of a parent (or child) some of the worst can be avoided.
This year has seen more progress on these fronts than ever before - for all that, there is a very, very long way to go. Our helping services have changed gear, in part because of improved funding. This should be a virtuous cycle, for the better the services that are provided, the more likely they are to attract funds.
This year has also seen unprecedented access to the powerful. We saw the Children and Adoption Act 2006 and can claim credit for the contact order enforcement provisions of that - still however to be implemented. The Conservatives have taken on much of our agenda, the Lib Dems are moving fast and the Government has agreed the need to 'change the culture' in the direction we propose. Now these are all so far only promises. But it is progress, and ‘we’ will go on pressing. 'We' is not of course the trustees or the staff – it is YOU, the members. Our job is not to be 'at the top' of the charity, but to be at the very bottom - ensuring that your needs are met. Take the Early Day motion calling for a presumption of shared parenting, which got more MP’s signing it than any other (except ones about global warming and local post offices). Our job was to help and encourage you - but you did the work.
Keep it up. Our demands are still far from being met – but they are no longer being ignored.
John Baker
Chair
Summary of accounts, 1 January 2005 – 31st March 2006
Donations and grants
£106, 088
Activities in furtherance of charity objectives
£87, 986
Interest receivable
£2, 334
Total incoming resources
£ 196,408
Resources expended
-£172,741
Accumulated funds carried forward
£ 89, 888
N.B. the accounting period covers 15 months, to bring it in to line with the new FNF financial year which will run from 1st April – 31st March each year from 2006 onwards.
These accounts precede the receipt of the DfES capacity building grant which started April 1st 2006.
With many thanks to the following funders for their support to Families Need Fathers this year:
The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation
Bishopsgate Foundation
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF)
Department for Education and
Skills (DFES)
Garfield Weston Foundation
The John Ellerman Foundation
Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales
The Tudor Trust
Lobbying and Campaigning
This year our lobbying activities have focused on two key issues, the need for shared parenting legislation and shaping the successor to the beleaguered CSA.
On the matter of shared parenting, we continue to address all three major parties. Through the good offices of David Blunkett, our lobbying team had a constructive meeting with the Lord Chancellor and the Minister for Children, which we have followed up with discussions with officials at DfES and Department for Constitutional Affairs (DCA).
But we need to exert more pressure in order to turn rhetoric in to policy! We are therefore meeting David Blunkett again to discuss strategy and tactics, and Jon Davies recently wrote to Alan Johnson after his family policy speech.
We have also had meetings with Tim Loughton for the Conservatives and, at her request, Annette Brookes for the Lib Dems. Both responded constructively. Tim is a staunch supporter of shared parenting legislation and therefore accepted the invitation to be our Keynote Speaker at the 2006 FNF AGM, and Annette gave us a sympathetic though not conclusive hearing on the case for such legislation.
We are participating in technical discussions with officials at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on the CSA successor C-MEC and putting in a response to which a number of FNF members contributed. We want a radical overhaul of the CSA successor and, at a minimum, a system that recognises parenting costs as the norm for both parents - not just one.
This year we have built a strong lobbying team, led by FNF member Craig Pickering and Chair John Baker, and supported by other trustees and members. Their efforts have opened many doors for FNF and dialogue is increasing at all levels.
Branches
Our branches continue to provide a ‘front-line’ of support within the community, providing an invaluable resource to parents needing help on an ongoing basis. Branches are organised and run by our motivated volunteers who facilitate the sharing of advice and support between members, old hands and new-comers. They are also regularly attended by ‘outsiders’ in the form of solicitors or other advisory services who are willing to extend the benefit of their services to members on a pro gratis basis.
During 2006 our volunteers held 379 public meetings in 29 locations across the country, where parents could come and receive help and support. Four new meetings (Cambridge, Crawley, Lancaster and Plymouth) opened during 2006. Further meetings are due to start in Chelmsford and Crewe from April 2007 which will bring the number of venues where meetings are held up to 31.
Previously haphazard, attendance and other details from meetings are now reported on an online database (thanks to Steve Stephenson), with data from 83% of meetings held. As is always the case, some meetings will flourish whilst others may wither and even close as those organising them feel they’ve made their contribution and move on in their lives. However, the dedication of branch committee members in reaching out to members of the community (with many hours spent offering support outside of meeting hours) is recognised and appreciated by all at FNF.
McKenzie Newsletter
The McKenzie magazine is now sent out six times a year to approximately 3,000 members and 500 movers and shakers, including other organisations concerned with child welfare and family law and policy, judges, politicians and journalists. McKenzie is the leading newsletter in the sector of shared parenting and provides updates on legal developments as well as social ones on ongoing parenting of children.
Articles continue to face the barriers to shared parenting head-on, taking the CSA to task, and even, controversially, the NSPCC in the last year. It has covered noteworthy events such as the meeting between FNF and the Lord Chancellor as well as the absolute majority of MP support given to the principle of shared parenting. McKenzie remains an important vehicle for reflecting the views of the non-resident parent as well as providing useful information amongst members on each others experiences, successes and challenges and how these have been dealt with.
In the last year McKenzie has increased in size from 16 to 24 pages. New features include the ‘self-help’ and ‘parenting’ pages. The magazine itself has been redesigned to bring it in line with the FNF house style. McKenzie is available online in the main area of the website, and is also available as an audio CD for the visually impaired, courtesy of FNF Brighton branch member, Colin Bennett.
After almost four years at the helm Jim Parton, former Chair, has handed over Editorship to Rebecca Kingdom-Kruszewski, previously Deputy Editor. Never afraid of ‘saying it like it is’, Jim brought his own robust style to McKenzie and made it a lively and strong publication on which Rebecca is sure to build.
Membership Drive
FNF has been in the unusual position of providing an increasing number of services, despite a decline in members. Much of our advice and support is now available either through our telephone helpline or through the website, meaning that individuals can receive the help they need without becoming members.
Whilst we are delighted that more and more people are finding us, a drop in membership has implications on our core funding which we have traditionally relied on to pay our ongoing overheads and reduce our reliance on external/donor funding.
FNF therefore formed a Membership Drive committee this year, to look at how we increase visibility of FNF services to our main target groups. The initiative was initially spearheaded by FNF member Ian Woodhouse, who tragically died late in 2006. During this time he produced a number of marketing and awareness raising materials which he distributed widely to CAFCASS, Citizens Advice Bureaus, libraries, MPs and the like. The membership committee now consists of FNF trustees and team members and will continue his good work, looking at ways to increase visibility and attract individuals to FNF’s services. Watch this space and encourage people to join!
Parent Support Workshops
FNF now has a team of 18 volunteer facilitators, at various stages of training; many are now able to run their own workshops, either in pairs or on their own. This means that we are able to offer this support more often, and in more locations. The aim is to have this support up and running in every CAFCASS region.
We’ll have run 16 workshops this year (twice as many as last year, and well over what we aimed for), plus two training sessions for facilitators. There are currently five themes with more being planned:
- Building memories of Dad
- Cultivating communication skills
- The challenges of being a separated parent
- I’m at a brick wall – where can I go from here?
- Support for the wider family
Funding has been obtained from the Tudor Trust to take forward a joint workshop project with CAFCASS in the S/SE regions – the idea being that workshops could be extended to accommodate both separating parents and facilitate the reaching of a child-centred agreement, thereby reducing the necessity for acrimonious and expensive court appearances. FNF is pressing CAFCASS to find the remaining resources to partner us and make this a reality. If successful, it will mean we can employ a regional worker to provide local support and information to our membership and beyond (e.g, other organisations such as Contact Centres and Children’s Centres), plus run workshops for our families, as well as those signposted by CAFCASS.
Volunteers are always welcome to join the team. We especially need those who are able to extend this work in CAFCASS NE, NW, Yorkshire and Humberside and W Mids.
You don’t need to commit more time than you have available. So please get involved - you’ll become part of a brilliant, dedicated team, and enjoy some satisfying and positive days.
All thanks to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for their continued funding, as well as those who are now part of the Team, and who have helped in any way.
‘We' is not of course the trustees or the staff – it is YOU, the members. Our job is not to be 'at the top' of the charity, but to be at the very bottom - ensuring that your needs are met.
John Baker
Website
The website continues to be a vital point of reference for parents and organisations needing to familiarise themselves with points of law and parental rights.
The most viewed pages on the FNF website, after the home page, in 2006 were:
- Parental Responsibility (Orders)
- Children Act 1989 Summary
- Children Act 1989 Chapter 41
- Parental Responsibility Agreement
- Unmarried Fathers’ Legal Rights
- Branch Meetings
The average number of unique, individual visitors to the FNF website per month in 2006 was 16,506 and the average number of visits they made was 27,323. The average total number of pages viewed in a month was 81,023.
Maintaining the website and its content has been the task of a tight team of members and staff. Contributions to the content have come from all sections of the charity and have seen the development of the Campaigns pages as well as pages for press coverage, events, government submissions and consultations.
The website will be a major area for development in the coming year, and work is already well underway to improve its navigation and accessibility as well as ensuring that the branding and quality reflects the standards to which the charity is working. A major feature will also be a self-help function that will guide and feed newcomers the information they need based on the most commonly asked questions.
Internet forums
The FNF self-help and chat forums remain an invaluable resource for obtaining the best advice possible – that is, through other members sharing the benefit of their experiences with each other and assisting in steering those needing help through difficult times. There are 858 members currently signed up to FNF self-help. The topics covered range from CSA queries, through dealing with the matrimonial home and other assets, to contact. By far the vast majority of enquiries are to do with denied contact and how to get some or better contact. Shared residence enquiries and discussions feature prominently amongst the posts. Those posting their requests for help and advice are met with speedy responses from an active group of members. Responses take the form of a range of tried and tested approaches to a situation as well as encouragement and support to those who might feel they are alone in what they are experiencing.
There are currently 696 people subscribed to the chat forum. The topics are very wide ranging, with one poster adding information from around the globe for discussion. The chat forums provide a vehicle for letting off steam or for philosophical debate. This has been extended in to a ‘Sunday night chat’ forum which is particularly useful for those needing instant feedback or support over the weekend, when contact issues are often at their height.
The forums are member-led and organised, and moderated by an elected panel. Typical of the spirit of FNF members, there are several who spend a great deal of their time and energy responding to the queries of others, even though their own cases have just about concluded.
Helpline
In 2006 we received 6506 calls, but were only able to answer 3277. The helpline currently runs weekday evenings between 6 and 10 pm, yet we were pleased (and grateful to FNF members) for the additional 530 calls that were picked up outside the operating hours. We continue to feel bad for those couple of thousand individuals that don’t get through when they call, but hope they will have picked up on our services one way or another.
There is some crossover with the office – some callers who do not get through during the day contact a helpliner in the evening and vice versa but there are still calls that do not get answered and we have not managed to call back all left messages.
The number of calls to the FNF helpline has almost doubled in one year. An evaluation conducted of the helpline revealed that callers remained on the line for an average of 24 minutes, demonstrating that they are contacting FNF for complex matters. Callers generally required time, attention, sensibility and a substantial amount of background information on the part of the helpline volunteer. As expected, callers were mostly non-resident fathers, needing advice, legal information, or simply a friendly ear. However, the Helpline also received calls from a large variety of people, men and women, ranging from family members and new partners to friends and professionals calling to be more informed and to provide better support to a loved one in a difficult situation.
A great number of calls are taken by very few volunteers. Helpliners work from their own homes, generally for one evening a week. The new volunteers trained earlier in 2006 have made a very welcome contribution. Additional volunteers have come forward in small numbers, although it is proving difficult to find sufficient numbers to organise the necessary training - so please come forward if you can spare a couple of hours a month and would be willing to extend your help to others who could benefit from a sympathetic ear during a time of need.
We are working on plans to further strengthen our support of the helpline and its volunteers in the long-term. In the meantime we have been fortunate to receive a grant from the Bernard Sunley Foundation with which we will be seeking to fill a part-time, temporary post to make a start on the need for more administration and support as well as possibly providing some phone support during the day.
Families Need Fathers, Keeping Children and Parents in Contact since 1974
134, Curtain Road, London EC2A 3AR Tel: 0207 613 5060 Charity No.276899