Aims

This report evaluates the Children society Homeless Families Support Programme, which aimed to make health services in the London Borough of Newham more responsive to the needs of homeless families, especially homeless refugee families. The evaluation highlights issues that arose from the project and aims to influence service development.

Methodology

No methodology is stated in the report. Some case studies are used however to illustrate issues affecting clients of the project as a result of national policies.

Key findings

Between April 1997 and January 1999, the project saw 164 new clients and 553 follow-up clients. The clients came from 50 different countries and over 90% did not have any long-term status in the UK. Families who used the project were often housed some distance from where they applied for help, were on very low incomes, had suffered discrimination and harassment, experienced delays in receiving assistance from statutory services and either lacked access to GP services or did not have a GP.*The project spent most of its time advocating for clients and encouraging them to make better use of health services. In its second year, a self-help group was established among the families, which provided a safe place for users to voice their concerns and discuss potential policy improvements. A forum comprising of agencies responsible for services to the clients was established and became an effective way of identifying needs and changing services according to these needs. The project had limited influence on policy change because of its weak position in relation to the statutory agencies involved in the care of its clients. The project was however successful in securing access to health care for its clients, although many GPs in the locality remained reluctant to register homeless families or provide emergency care for them. Clients noted that the project had treated them with respect and was culturally-sensitive.

Recommendations

A number of recommendations are made in the report, including:

• voluntary sector organisations must keep sight of strategic goals whilst managing the demands of casework. Staff must be aware of policy and political changes in order to identify and grasp potential opportunities for making change;

• Newham borough council should recognise the strategic value of independent initiatives in the borough as many agencies in the borough are tied to financially-driven arrangements and consequently fail to provide services to asylum seekers and new immigrants;

• The Children's Society should have made its strategic objectives clear to the project in order to strengthen its effectiveness;

• community-based advocacy work should employ a multi-agency approach to identify needs and solutions, which should involve statutory and voluntary agencies; combine casework with strategic work; and recognise the importance of a community development approach which enables homeless families to develop their own support systems.