Our new fundraising campaign: We won’t stop until every child feels safe and loved

The idea behind the campaign was born at our most recent Staff Development Day when we talked about what motivates us to do the work we do here at St Andrew’s Children’s Society.

Everyone agreed that we do what we do to keep children safe. And that shouldn’t just be for the “easier to place children”.

Every child deserves a family and the support to thrive within it

We don’t want children with additional support needs, older children and children of Black, Asian and other diverse ethnicities to have to wait longer to be adopted or fostered because of the lack of available families. We want every child to feel safe. Every child should feel loved unconditionally.

The importance of siblings in a child’s life

We want a world where siblings can stay together. If they do have to be separated, then we want them to be given the opportunity to remain in touch because we know how important a child’s siblings are for that child’s health and wellbeing.

Why we feel this way

Most of the children who are adopted and fostered through St Andrew’s Children’s Society have had an extremely difficult start in life.

Sadly, some will have suffered sexual, physical and/or emotional abuse as well as emotional and/or physical neglect.

Many will have lived in chaotic households were drug abuse, mental health issues and domestic abuse were common.

A significant number will have been separated from their siblings and through multiple moves, lost important people in their lives.

A lot of the children will have had to endure these traumatic experiences from birth or an early age. Some will even have experienced this terrible trauma in utero.

These traumatic experiences would be hard for any adult to cope with. Imagine how you would deal with it if you were a young child, on your own and frightened?

The crucial part support will play in their lives

Not surprisingly, these traumatic early childhood experiences are likely to have a lifelong effect on their health and wellbeing.

That’s why we want to create safe families for them to be part of and for them to have access to appropriate support when they need it, not just if there is a crisis. This support should be resource led instead of means led due to budget restrictions.

We are committed to offering lifelong adoption support and support to foster carers

And by lifelong, we really do mean lifelong adoption support. It’s not uncommon for us to hear from a family many years after they adopted their child, because their child is suffering and they know they can come back for support at any time.

In relation to foster carers, many of our foster carers continue to offer a lifelong home to the children (now adults) in their care and we would continue to be there to support them long after they are no longer ‘looked after’.

But it comes at a cost…

For example, we offer many of our children and young people Therapeutic Life Story Work. It helps them explore and understand their past in a safe and supportive way. This impartial and direct approach gives them essential information about their life story, helping them process trauma and make meaningful connections between their past and present. Throughout the journey, the focus is on strengthening attachments, building trust, and empowering the child or young person to make positive choices for their future.

But it costs us £2,400 to offer a child or young person Life Story Work and we anticipate offering this service to 14 children and young people this year. The total amount for this adoption support will come to £33,600. This is just a tiny portion of the support we will offer this year alone. We still need to pay for all the other support we offer our children and young people and their adopters and foster carers.

Lack of support funding for adoption and foster care

Many people are unaware that we receive no local authority funding for adoption support when a child in their care is adopted through us. We do put aside part of the adoption fee paid by the local authority to support our children, but it falls well far short of meeting the full cost of the adoption support they require.

We are funded to support foster carers but many of the extra supports we offer (therapeutic life-story work for example) have to be funded through voluntary income. Also support offered to young adults who remain with their carers after the local authority is no longer involved need to be paid for from our income generated through our fundraising.

Fundraising is vital for us

We need to bridge the gap between what we put aside and what it actually costs to support our children and young people.

That’s where you come in.

We know a lot of you have already helped us and we really are grateful for that. We wouldn’t be where we are today if it weren’t for you.

Some people have even set up a recurring monthly donation which is incredibly generous of them.

Please can you help us?

We won’t stop giving our children and young people the vital adoption and foster care support they need, but we desperately need your help.

Please, for the sake of the children and young people we support, consider donating to our fundraising campaign or setting up a recurring donation.

Even the smallest donation will make a big difference.

If everyone who has ever benefitted from the work we do donated just £1, we would raise a huge amount of money which we could use to offer our children and young people support for the rest of their lives.

Please donate what you can. Don’t be put off by larger donations and think your £1, £5 or £10 is too small a donation. It won’t be. It really will make a big difference.

Add Gift Aid and add 25% extra for free

The incredible thing about Gift Aid is that you can increase your donation total by 25% by adding it to your donation. You won’t be charged any extra, just your original donation amount. So, if you donate £5 and add Gift Aid, we will receive £6.25.

The extra 25% will be paid for by the Government.

Please consider adding Gift Aid to your donation if you are a UK taxpayer. You can find out more about Gift Aid here.

Does your employer offer Matched Funding?

Matched Funding is when an employer matches what an employee donates to a charity or fundraises for them.

Some organisations also call it Match Funding, Match Giving or Matched Giving.

It’s an easy way to double what you donate or fundraise.

Thank you

Thank you from all of us at St Andrew’s Children’s Society. Every penny you donate will be used wisely and will make a lasting difference to the lives of the children and young people we are committed to supporting both now and in the future.