Moving to The Family Initiative

Background

This project has been in the making for many years and we are focused on delivering the primary objective of Voices in the Middle – to deliver services focused directly to children & young people in the middle of parental separation.

Up to June 2017, the project has been run as it’s own charity (Kids in the Middle, registered charity no.1153731).

It was decided by the Kids in the Middle trustees that the project needed to reach it’s full potential with investment and management by a larger, more experience team. Multiple options were considered and handing it over to The Family Initiative (registered charity no.1170660) was decided to be in the best interest of the project and it’s beneficiaries – primarily children and young people.

Consultation

As part of the handover process, the trustees of Kids in the Middle consulted widely with supporters of the project, listening to and addressing questions.

The key questions were around ensuring:

• Transparency and accountability of the project’s funding
  All project funding is designated for the sole purpose of advancing Voices in the Middle. Funds will also be kept in a new, dedicated and separate Charities Aid Foundation bank account for the project’s sole use. Existing direct debits will automatically transfer over and continue.
• Robust safeguarding and child protection processes
  All Family Initiative staff have undertaken recent safeguading training and are DBS checked. All young people involved in the project steering group are carefully screened and supported by trained youth professionals. The team also has experience setting up safeguarding processes for online services, including recruiting and training appropriate digital service teams. Read About Us.
• UK based, experienced and qualified team
  Our team are UK based and have worked in the family sector for many years, supporting families and young people during parental separation. This includes setting up digital services for families, emotional health and wellbeing services in schools and working with Government to create services for divorce & separation. Read About Us.
• No changes to the original project objectives
  The project objective will remain exactly the same. To campaign for children and young people in the middle of parental separation whilst building a new, dedicated place to go. Read Become a Supporter and Become a Partner.
• Continued engagement of young people at the heart of the project
  All the young people who have been involved with the project have been invited to continue their engagement and support through a new Young People’s Steering Group and fundraising activities. This steering group will be run by our qualified youth workers, Richard and Ashley.
• Detailed delivery and fundraising plans
  Full service delivery, fundraising and governance plans were submitted and reviewed by the Kids in the Middle trustees. All of the questions raised in the transition were addressed and evidenced to the Kids in the Middle trustee’s satisfaction.

Further, to directly ensure the plans are implemented in full alongside protecting the project’s integrity, Kids in the Middle trustee, Helen Pittard, has moved with the project to The Family Initiative trustee board.

We hope you can also find much of the answers to these questions in action, through browsing this updated website.

As a valued supporter, we are more than happy to discuss any outstanding questions with you, please Contact Us.