WIREDGOV

Children and young people at risk of recurring abuse are set to be the first in the UK to benefit from a groundbreaking US approach which aims to overcome the impact and long term effect of childhood abuse and neglect.

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), Scotland today announces over £1M in funding for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Scotland’s Glasgow based project which is running a four year clinical trial of the New Orleans Intervention Model (NIM) devised by Tulane Infant Team, Tulane University, Louisiana.

Working with children aged between six months and five years-old NIM offers an intensive approach working with children who have been abused, leading to an early resolution in decisions regarding their future.

In a UK first for this approach the Glasgow based clinical trial; led by NSPCC Scotland working in partnership with Glasgow City Council, the University of Glasgow and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, will see if the NIM approach can offer brighter futures for children whose abuse and neglect can often scar them throughout their lives. BIG is providing a grant of £1,073,780 towards the trial.

The New Orleans Intervention Model developed by Professor Charles Zeanah at Tulane University has suggested that working with the child’s birth families and foster carers to address the issues they face through targeted interventions may help a child who has been abused receive the stable, safe and loving care that is so vital to their healthy development. In the US foster children who returned to their birth families were less likely to experience abuse again. All children in the study showed comparable mental health to children who hadn’t been abused in a follow up study after seven years. This funding will allow the development of this programme in Scotland and test its impact for children here.

Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, Maureen McGinn, said: “We believe our funding today will have a significant impact on the lives of some of the most vulnerable in our society. Child abuse and neglect often have life long scars, this partnership project led by NSPCC Scotland in Glasgow will allow a rigorous trial of an innovative approach to support abused children to take place here in Scotland. We hope it will lead to more children being able to overcome the mental and emotional damage of abuse and enable them to have brighter futures.”

Matt Forde, Head of NSPCC Scotland Services said: “This Big Lottery Funding will help us to test a new approach which could help transform the lives of some of our most vulnerable young children. Experiencing abuse and instability of care at such a young age can scar a child for life and increase the burden on our health and justice systems. If, however, a child experiences stable, safe, nurturing and loving care as early as possible following maltreatment, their recovery can be rapid and remarkable.

“Today’s funding will enable NSPCC Scotland to develop our programme, in partnership with Glasgow City Council, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and the University of Glasgow, to test out if this approach can deliver improved outcomes for children in our care system in Scotland.

“Our programme is based on the groundbreaking work of the Tulane Infant Team in the United States which has been shown in the USA to improve the child’s mental health, strengthen their relationship with their parent and improve parenting behaviour.”

In addition to the Big Lottery Fund grant statutory agencies have made significant additional investment in their services and there has been investment by the Chief Scientist Office in to the clinical trial to enable this approach to be evaluated against existing approaches.

Today’s funding is part of a package of six Big Lottery Fund Scotland, Investing in Community grants totalling £3,390,312. To see today’s other successful projects visit
http://news.biglotteryfund.org.uk/newsroom-uk.

For more press, media or picture information contact
Emma Whitfield Big Lottery Fund Scotland Press Office 0141 242 1415 / 07880 737157 emma.whitfield@biglotteryfund.org.uk

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors:-

• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.
• The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £29 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
• The Scotland Committee has been making Big Lottery Fund decisions on Scottish projects since March 2007.  As well as taking devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn, has and will continue to play a strategic role in the future direction of BIG in Scotland.
• The Big Lottery Fund is investing in Scotland’s communities through its Investing in Communities portfolio, as well as the small grants schemes Awards for All, Investing in Ideas, Communities and Families and 2014 Communities.