Bolstering financial support during the first 1001 days of a child’s life
Stronger financial support in the first 1001 days of a child’s life is needed to ensure children in the UK get the best start in life.
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Programmes
Children’s mental health
Our vision is a world where every child has access to the things they need to be healthy, feel safe, and reach their potential.
Our approach to children’s mental health
Right now, millions of children and families are trapped in poverty which causes significant harm and distress to children’s mental health.
This is an issue which disproportionately affects children from minoritised ethnicities, who are more likely to live in poverty due to structural racism.
When a family is forced to live in unsuitable housing, work low paid unstable jobs, and rely on foodbanks, this affects every aspect of a child’s life.
Children living in poverty often experience:
- Poor quality sleep
- Difficulty concentrating
- Difficulty regulating emotion
- Stress and feelings of overwhelm
- A lack of safe spaces to play
The situation is made worse by challenges accessing support services. Poverty and racism make it harder to access timely, effective care, with children from marginalised communities often at risk of both judgement and discrimination.
How we’ll achieve our vision
To reduce inequalities in children’s mental health outcomes in Lambeth and Southwark, we will work closely with local people and organisations who are trusted by their communities, developing impactful ways of improving children’s mental health.
That means:
- Reframing the narrative about children’s mental health by highlighting it as an issue of inequity that needs to be tackled.
- Building evidence around effective approaches, with a view to them being adopted and scaled.
- Developing our understanding of the key issues through centring the voices and experiences of parents and families.
- Identifying opportunities to influence systems and policies which create inequalities and perpetuate poor mental health for children.
Our areas of focus
Nurturing environments, thriving children
We want to identify how key environments where children and their trusted adults spend time can be made safer and more nurturing. Thereby better meeting the needs of the most marginalised and reducing inequities in provision for children’s mental health support.
Root causes of children’s mental health inequity
We want to develop approaches to addressing childhood poverty and structural racism that centre children’s voices and experiences. Crucially, we are working towards approaches which can be adopted by others in the system.
Most read insights
Reports
Supporting families with neurodivergent children who are forced into temporary accommodation
We have worked alongside families, lawyers, housing professionals and health experts to develop guidance for supporting neurodivergent children and their families when forced into temporary housing.
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Reports
Better SEND support for Black and mixed heritage children and families
We commissioned Global Child and Maternal Health to lead a research project to better understand the experiences of Black and mixed heritage children and families when a child has special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).
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Reports
No Timeouts: understanding the impact of behavioural difficulties on children and families
We commissioned ethnographic research to help us better understand the reality of life for children and families affected by behavioural difficulties.
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Our other programmes
Programmes
Children’s health and food
We want to break the link between low income and poor nutrition, by improving the quality of food options in lower-income neighbourhoods.
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Programmes
Health effects of air pollution
Our vision is a healthier world where everyone breathes clean air.
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Programmes
Financial foundations for adult health
Our vision is a world where everybody has the financial freedom needed for good mental and physical health.
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