First Housing offering smart support to young parents

Shepherd’s View Young Parents’ Project was set up to meet the needs of some of the most vulnerable families in the North West.  Foyle Homeless, now known as First Housing Aid and Support Services, health visitors and social workers from the Leaving and Aftercare and Family Support Teams within Western Health and Social Services Trust found there was no service available where parents of young children could find accommodation in a supported environment.   So Fold Housing Association, Western Health and Social Services Trust and First Housing Aid and Support Services formed a partnership and the Young Parents’ Project at Shepherd’s View was born.

The underlying principle behind Shepards View is that children have a right to a safe and loving family life and that their should be offered the support, advice they need as well as a safe home which would enable them to take care of their children. 

Since opening in 2002 Shepherds View has provided supported accommodation to 

• 152 mothers 30 fathers, 20 couples and 202 children, of which 60 children registered on the Child Protection Register.
• 28 children de-registered from the Child Protection Register
• 101 young parents have moved to independent living 
• 33 move onto family homes
• 54 moved into partners home
• 20 moved to UK  

Education and skills development is an important part of the Sheppard’s View project and the results are impressive and 155 young parents have completed training across a range of areas such as essential skills on English and maths, cooking and parenting programmes and sexual health programmes.

First Housing also runs a project aimed specifically at young fathers aged 15-25. The highly successful ‘da’ project offers one to one support on issues like coping with being a dad, benefits, housing, education and training, services for parents and support for those young fathers who are having difficulty getting access to their children. One young man who took part in the project explains

"When I was 21, my daughter was 6. At this stage her mother and I had been separated for a number of years. Things started to get on top of me, I lived with my grand parents (who liked a drink) and we fought a lot, I was terrible at maths and couldn’t spell many words, then suddenly I found myself in court over my daughter. I heard about a new scheme for young fathers in Derry and I found out more about the project. I was one of the first young fathers to be accepted onto the 'da' Young Fathers Project. Since joining the 'da' Young Fathers Project, I have sorted out a lot of my problems, I got help on claiming housing benefits, I was allowed access to my daughter in a safe and controlled environment. I also got help with the cost of a taxi to see her. I am a different person now, I am confident with my daughter and myself, I used to not bother with education, but now I enjoy attending courses and parenting classes. I also enjoy the time with the other young fathers. I have been there a lot longer than some of the others, and I am happy to share my story with the new fathers. I have just finished a CV and I am now looking for a youth work position to use my experience to help others."