Families Matter
Living Springs is a Family Centre, but
family means so many different things
to different people.
For some of us the word family will conjure
up the picture of two loving parents with
their two, maybe three children – thriving,
happy, and well cared for.
However, for others this is not the case.
For some individuals we work with, it
means a father who physically or sexually
abuses his children and a mother too
afraid to be able to protect them. Or
maybe the mother is also an abuser.
It means parents who neglect their
children, some perhaps because they
have a learning disability, some because
they are dependent on drugs and others
because they just don’t care.
It means parents who spend their time at
the pub, drinking away the money,
regularly leaving small children home
alone, or others who drink themselves into
oblivion at home while the children have
to become the carers.
Living Springs works not only with these
parents, helping them towards better,
safer, parenting, but also with the children
whose lives have been shattered by the
treatment they have suffered.
These children are isolated, often ‘failing’
in school; they dare not get too close to
other children, due to the secrets they
have to keep. Frequently misunderstood,
their inability to concentrate can lead to
bad behaviour and often exclusion.
At Living Springs we work with them
on a one-to-one basis, in a secure
place and with staff who really care
about them.
Jane Chapman
February 2005
