Founded in 2016, Parent and Child Together North East (PACTNE) supports vulnerable families from Darlington, the Tees Valley and the North East of England. Its ongoing vision is to prevent children from becoming "looked after", unless this is the best course of action to meet the child's need for safety. PACTNE helps parents and children to stay together at times of crisis and during significant challenge.
Founded in 2016, PACTNE has just one objective: "to promote and preserve good health among parents and children living in the Tees Valley and surrounding areas, by providing supported accommodation, advice, training and therapeutic services to young persons and adults who are pregnant or parenting children and who are made vulnerable by homelessness, need, hardship or distress."
PACTNE provides this service at Eagle House on the outskirts of Darlington where the charity has six log cabins that offer family accommodation in one, two, and three bed units. The site is on the edge of the town in a rural environment and families can access open spaces including playgrounds and a raised bed allotment. Many of the resident families are in complex safeguarding measures and require intensive support.
PACTNE has housed and supported over forty families from eight of the ten most deprived constituencies in the region. Often families come to PACTNE when they experience a combination of multifaceted issues and when these are adversely impacting on their capacity to parent or are putting their children at risk in some professionally identified way. Families need a place of safety and security. They need stability whilst they address their challenges, working with PACTNE and other professionals. Children need to experience positive adult role models able to engage with them in play, craft and other fun activities as well as being available for practical and emotional support to adults and children alike. The team gives above and beyond the level of support normally offered through supported housing. This takes the form of:
One-to-one sessions in the resident’s cabin.
Group activities in PACTNE’s family centre including a weekly parent and child morning and craft activities which are fun, and most importantly embed lots of necessary parenting skills.
Transport to and from appointments and shopping trips.
Daytime housing related and parenting support as needed, and emergency responsive out of hours support.
Families come for up to two years and have access to staff 24 hours a day. Practical family support addresses issues such as healthy eating, finance and budgeting, shopping, cooking, home and personal care, as well as maintaining good interpersonal relationships for families with their neighbours, staff and volunteers - which are all essential to support any positive move on plan. PACTNE’s ultimate aim is to see a more confident and resilient family moving back into the community after a stay at Eagle House.
With support from the Foundation, PACTNE will refurbish an on-site static caravan, turning it into a creative space that’s available for families all year around and helping to build a community within the families. The Foundation’s funding will also enable part-refurbishment of one of the cabins that house the families. PACTNE’s aim is to renovate one cabin initially, before completing each individual cabin as funding allows. The team aim to promote this as a corporate sponsorship model for local businesses, which will enable PACTNE to continue to offer a high level of accommodation for families in a time of crisis.
