In partnership with the Croydon Refugee Day Centre, our Family Support project provides outreach work to families in emergency accommodation housing in Croydon– as well as supporting families in dispersal accommodation. This currently supports 334 children.

The project:

• Offers practical, hardship support to families with children, by providing direct support with items such as food vouchers, school uniforms/ vouchers and travel support
  
  
• Builds links with and refer and signpost families to other organisations that offer opportunities and support for children and young people of all ages
  
  
• Supports and empowers families new to the area (and the country) – by helping them understand and navigate UK educational and child-related systems – especially supporting within-year school applications and accessing extra support for children with special needs.
  
  
• Runs activities for children not yet attending school at their welcome sessions, and to run one-off outings and activities in school holidays (funding permitting); to build links with other organisations across Croydon who can offer support in school holidays.

Throughout the project, the outreach team will focus on building trusting relationships with families and volunteers, working sensitively across language, cultural and other differences, in order to improve the life chances of children seeking asylum in the borough.

 The Croydon Refugee Day Centre are one of the beneficiaries of the school uniform appeal, this is a quote from one mother.

Staying in a hotel for long has severely impacted the mental health of our children. The lack of tasty and nutritious food not only affects their physical well-being but also contributes to feelings of deprivation and neglect. The passive mood and absence of a sense of belonging exacerbate their sense of isolation and detachment from society. Additionally, the embarrassment they may feel before peers who live more normal lives adds to their psychological distress, further compromising their mental well-being and sense of self-worth.

A new school uniform for a child who is an asylum seeker marks a break away from the feeling that he was marginalised for as long as he was not at school like his peers. It gives him the sense of belonging to a school and to a community after some time of feeling ignored and detached from the society. It brings hope for a better future and makes him feel equal to his peers.

---

If you would like to support this project, please contact [email protected]