Aberdeen AM provides £5,000 to assist vulnerable Fife families

The Glenrothes-based Muirhead Outreach Project has received £5,000 after staff at the financial firm’s Edinburgh office heard about the valuable work it does for families living in areas of social deprivation in Fife.

Poverty, psychological and behavioural difficulties and dysfunctional lives can place pressures on families, and the charity works with children and young people living in Fife who are at risk of being taken into care. It provides services to prevent placement in care, and supports families for whom care has become a reality by offering tailor-made support packages, activities and interventions.

These elements seek to keep families together in their own communities and reduce the impact of disadvantage on their lives.

The range of support is wide but includes day respite care for families under pressure, parenting skills training, supported reintegration to school, supervised and monitored reintegration into family, new experiences such as the garden project which gives children and young people the opportunity to learn through practical environmental experience, supporting young people making transition from care to independence and school holiday activity schemes.

Since its inception in 2004, Muirhead Outreach Project has worked with over 150 families with only six children having been placed in care over that time.

Steve Griffin, manager of the Muirhead Outreach Project said: “We are based in Glenrothes and offer help throughout Fife and in particular in some of the most deprived areas experiencing extremely high levels of poverty.

“At present our fund-raising efforts are focussing on extending the availability of individualised care, increasing the number of activity scheme places and offering support and education to young parents.

“With an ever-expanding number of families needing our support we are always looking for more sessional workers and volunteers.”

Volunteers are appointed following thorough recruitment procedures, including an interview panel and PVG check and receive full induction training, on-going training, support and supervision are provided. Anyone interested in exploring volunteering opportunities should contact the charity on 01592 358713.

Colin Burrow of Aberdeen Asset Management’s Charitable Foundation said: “Staff in our Edinburgh office wanted to show their support of the Muirhead Outreach Project which ,over the years, has developed an excellent track record in the important work that it does with children and families.”

The donation after Aberdeen Asset Management’s Edinburgh office support for a number of causes helping children and young people through the company’s Charitable Foundation recently. Among them have been the Gorgie City Farm Youth Project in Edinburgh which enables teenagers facing difficulties in their lives to work with animals in its pet boarding facilities, based on evidence that being with animals can have a positive effect on humans; The James Shield Project run by Quarriers, which provides practival starter packs for homeless young people moving into their first home; an activity camp in Northumbria to prepare special needs pupils at Redhall School in Edinburgh for the transition to secondary school and helping Place2Be to increase support for children facing challenging physical and emotional problems in the Scottish capital.