supporting the really young!
At Spurgeons we know that poverty places a great burden on parents, restricts childhood development and, in extreme cases, shortens lives. Working with children in the early years of their life is the most effective way to ensure that those experiencing deprivation can still look forward to choices and opportunities.
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Focusing on communities with high-levels of poverty, Spurgeons staff work with mothers at the pre-natal stage, through birth and up to the age of five. Our range of services typically include:
- young parents groups
- parenting education - parenting advice and groups
- supporting parent and child relationships -family therapy, nurturing
- baby-clinics
- stay and play sessions
- father support groups
- helping parents to return to work
fast facts
Fast facts about young children
- Poverty shortens lives. A boy in Manchester can expect to live seven years less than a boy in Barnet. A girl in Manchester can expect to live six years less than a girl in Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster. [1]
- Poor children are often born too small. Low birth weight is closely associated with infant death and chronic diseases in later life.
- Poverty shapes children's development. Before reaching his or her second birthday, a child from a poorer family is already more likely to show a lower level of attainment than a child from a richer family. By the age of six a less able child from a richer family is likely to have overtaken an able child born into a poorer family.
- Children aged up to 14 from unskilled families are 5 times more likely to die in an accident than children from professional families, and 15 times more likely to die in a fire at home.
- Children growing up in poverty are more likely to leave school at 16 with fewer qualifications.
[1] All statistics courtesy of www.endchildpoverty.org.uk/why-end-child-poverty