Refugee Action
Key Facts
Location
Project Criteria
Project funding
£85,000
Funding round
Set up as a charity in 1981, Refugee Action facilitates the successful resettlement in the UK of refugees and asylum seekers. Working in the Liverpool area we offer a range of services including:
- A One Stop Shop advice service funded by the Home Office.
- The Move-On project that helps refugees to settle with the help of volunteers.
- A Development and Integration team supporting the development of refugee groups in the community.
We are using the Parenting Fund to support refugee and asylum-seeking parents in their parenting role by providing advice, support, information, advocacy and contact with other services that can help.
Our focus is on parents in difficult circumstances, including lone parents, parents with children who have additional or special needs, parents who themselves have additional needs or mental health problems, parents separated through exile or conflict and those in parental roles in 'irregular' family structures.
We will help parents strengthen their capacity to cope with these challenges through one-to-one and peer support. We hope that our early intervention and focus on preventative work will help reduce incidents of domestic violence and abuse, family break-up, personal stress and the poor mental health that many refugees face in the UK.
Project workers will provide information to families on available services and make referrals where needs are more complex. We will advocate on their behalf to ensure that they receive fair and equal treatment. We want to enable refugee parents to look after their own and their children's well-being by getting a fair and equal service from health, housing, education and employment services.
In the final months of the Refugee Parenting Project, we will disseminate our findings and experiences by hosting a series of workshops and seminars for practitioners. The seminars will be facilitated by project staff and involve regional specialists from other agencies. We will use the seminars to share good practice and invite service-users to comment on their own experiences.