“WE’VE RECEIVED LOVELY feedback from parents. A huge part of it was, ‘It was just great to realise that I wasn’t the only one feeling like this.’”

Having worked with Barnardos for 13 years, Sarah Davis has seen first-hand the profound impact the charity has on families and children.

Barnardos is Ireland’s leading children’s charity and currently works with just under 18,000 children and families in communities across Ireland. Its core work supports vulnerable children affected by traumatic life events such as the impact of poverty, abuse, neglect and mental health challenges.

The charity is calling on the Irish public to support their National Collection Day – supported by Dell Technologies – this Friday September 10, thus ensuring its vital work will continue across Ireland.

Ahead of the day, we asked Sarah about the work that Barnardos does to offer support to children and families who need it.

‘We provide support and encouragement’ 

“I work across a range of services, from our Early Years programme to family support,” she says. “Currently, I’ve been working in the Better Finglas Programme as a project worker since it opened six years ago.”

Sarah’s work includes delivering the Preparing for Life programme, which involves visiting families in the home and working alongside them to help them make the best decisions for themselves. The programme has a manual for parents to follow, with topics including pregnancy, making healthy choices and getting ready for the baby. 

Once the baby arrives, the mentor will support parents with bonding and attachment, safety at home, positive routine, language development, weaning, toilet training, play and learning, and preparing for school.

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“As the child gets a bit older, parents don’t need to see us as much, but they might ring me and say ,‘Sarah, I’m potty training now, what do I do?’ We talk through it and it’s just about empowering them as parents by giving them advice and encouragement.” 

“If we’re teaching a family how to wean their child, quite often they’re going out and buying jars, sachets and packets of food which they find to be very expensive. But, with the public’s support, we’re able to buy them hand blenders and containers. And we’re able to encourage parents and say, ‘go to your local shop, buy whatever vegetables are on special offer, steam them up, blend them down and that’s dinners for two weeks.” By doing this, the charity is helping give parents the option to make affordable and healthy meals for their child, whereas that might not be possible otherwise.  

Sarah gives another of example of how funds are spent to support families: “A mum called me one day really upset and explained that her toddler had knocked over a full tin of formula while she was making a bottle for her newborn and now she was not going to be able to buy school lunches for her older children as she had to buy new formula. I was able to help by buying formula, meaning she had one less thing to worry about.”

‘We reach those most in need’

Sarah shares that often families can be very isolated as they might be new to the area, have no family support, or have mental health or addiction issues. “Having a mentor means they have a go-to person who will support and advocate or signpost them to a service,” she says.

Another vital part of her role in Barnardos is holding a postnatal support group for new mums, which has been impacted by the ongoing pandemic.  “I work alongside a community midwife to deliver a virtual wellness group,” says Sarah.

“Lockdown has made things a lot more difficult for new parents. It takes a village to raise a child, but no one had a village around them recently. They’re very isolated. So we run a wellness group over Zoom where we use life skills, mindfulness strategies and give them tips and advice on how to manage the challenges that can come after you have a baby. All of the mothers who attend this group are referred by the maternity hospitals, so we reach those in most need.  ”

‘For some parents, just getting the out the door is very difficult’

The charity also provides Early Years services across the country that support children as they learn, develop and increase their readiness for school. 

“We strive to provide each child with the best possible start in life,” says Sarah. “A child attending might be struggling to communicate as they have very little speech, or maybe there might be a history of addiction, mental health, illness or domestic abuse in the home that has impacted their development. We give them a place in our service that is safe and supportive to not only the child, but their parents also. The ratio will be a little bit smaller than mainstream preschool, so the work and the support that we give the children will be a bit more intense.”

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For children whose parents are unable to bring them to the preschool, there’s a collection service to ensure they get there every day. “For some parents, just getting the out the door is very difficult,” says Sarah. “This service means that the child is still getting to school, to meet their peers, to be stimulated educationally, to be supported emotionally.” The children also get their breakfast and a cooked dinner in the service before they’re dropped back home.

When providing family support services, Barnardos’ ethos is to provide a trauma-informed approach. “It’s about seeing the child or parents’ whole picture, not just the needs or behaviours that might appear to be the problem, but rather what happened to cause these needs and behaviours,” says Sarah.

“So, for example, when a parent doesn’t attend an appointment, we consider what might have stopped them. Are they so stressed that they forgot, or are they nervous to meet with a professional as they had a negative experience in the past?

“As a project worker, I try to build a relationship with them so that they feel safe, trusted and respected.

One mother who I worked with for five years told me that I was the first professional she had worked with her that saw her as a mother and not a drug addict.

‘Donations make the services accessible for all’ 

From postnatal support groups to preschool services to providing supplies to families in need, every service Barnardos provides is free – meaning donations from the public are vital to the work the charity does. 

This Friday September 10, Barnardos’ National Collection Day – supported by Dell Technologies – is going digital, with all money raised going directly towards the charity’s work with children and families in communities across Ireland.

“Donations from the public ensure we can continue our vital work and are reaching those in need in communities right across Ireland. It’s wonderful to see the public step forward to help us.”

Barnardos works with children and families in the heart of local communities. Supporting Barnardos helps us transform children’s lives. For more information about Barnardos and how to help, click here.