Thank you
for giving hope and a future to the children who need it most
No child should face life's struggles alone
Thanks to you, they don't have to
In 1867, Baptist preacher and writer, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, was inspired by his faith to found an orphanage in London, offering vulnerable children care and education. Today, his work continues through Spurgeons Children's Charity.
The way in which we support children and families has changed enormously over 150 years.
In our latest Impact Report, you can read about the breadth of Spurgeons' work and the positive impact we make daily to thousands of young lives. Thank you for being a vital supporter of this work.
''Spurgeons has helped me overcome things I didn't know I could overcome'' - Wolverhampton Young Carer
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Spurgeons services delivered
Together for Families
general family support provided by communities
Cutbacks have made it hard for some parents to access general support around caring for their children and helping them to develop. What's missing is a local friendly space where parents can spend time with their babies and children, safely share their experiences and concerns, get ideas and reassurance, and make supportive friendships.
Together for Families (T4F) is an innovative project, where T4F staff based at Children's Centres partner with churches and community groups to bridge that gap.
Churches speak of T4F's wider benefits:
''It enabled us to reach different families...it was great to feel part of something bigger than one church, to share ideas and realise we're doing things well!''
Children's Centres
more intensive support for parents with higher needs
Around 1 in 3 children in the UK live in poverty* and 1 in 10 are 'in need'**. Poverty has a negative impact on children's mental and physical health and education - it can even shorten their lives.
We want to protect vulnerable children, to intervene at an early stage to support their families before the impact of poverty takes hold.
The Children's Centres we run across the UK are focused on areas of higher deprivation. Through them, we work one-to-one with parents of more vulnerable under 5s (often alongside other agencies).
*Department for Work and Pensions, 2019
**Office of National Statistics/Dept of Education, October 2019.
Prison-based Family Support Services
making prison visits less daunting
Having a father in prison can be very traumatic for children; the pain of separation and the anxiety involved in visits to a large building with uniformed officers and tight security can be a huge burden.
The experience can drive children of prisoners to develop behavioural problems and ultimately get involved in crime themselves (63% of boys with a parent in prison go on to offend)*.
It's also hard for the parent in prison - often they don't see their children grow up, and find it really challenging to reintegrate back into the family on release.
Naomi Webb, Family Services Manager at HMP Norwich says:
'Prisoners may be allowed an occasional Family Day or Children's Visit. Dads aren't allowed to move around on an ordinary visit, but on a Family Day we organise activities for them to do with their children.''
*This figure is quoted in The Importance of Strengthening Prisoners' Family Ties to Prevent Reoffending and Reduce Intergenerational crime, Lord Farmer, August 2017 (MoJ).
Invisible Walls
helping fathers and children separated by imprisonment
Losel et al found that ''positive family relationships and frequent contact during a prison sentence leads to positive resettlement outcomes.''*
Spurgeons' pioneering project Invisible Walls, launched in 2011 with funding from the National Lottery, aims to support this journey. By working closely with the prison, fathers and their families, and Probation and Children's Services, we ensure that prisoners and their families are seamlessly supported from imprisonment to release so that the transitions are far from less traumatic for parent-child relationships**.
*University of Cambridge 2012 - Losel, Pugh, Makson, Sousa and Lanskey
**Risk and Protective Factors in the Resettlement of Imprisoned Fathers with their Families
Giving Young Carers a voice
Census data identifies 173,000 young carers in the UK (2016), though BBC research projects up to 700,000, or 3 times as many, have caring needs that are yet to be identified.
These young people are caring for a family member with an illness or disability.
They have to grow up too fast - the need to balance their caring responsibilities with school leaves them little time to have fun with their friends.
Spurgeons support around 800 young people aged 8 to 16 through our Young Carers services in Birmingham and Wolverhampton.
Spurgeons' Jackie Benton who manages the Young Carers programme in Birmingham says: