About us
Our mission statement:
Parents Aid is a charity that works locally, for and with parents and families at isk of social exclusion, to improve the quality of their lives. We achieve
change by championing their voices and providing support services to meet their needs.
Who we are:
Parents’ Aid is a voluntary organisation and registered charity (no. 1018739), founded in November 1989, which exists to support families who are at risk of social exclusion.
A steering committee formed of a balance of professionals and former service-users manages our affairs. We have an executive team consisting of the Organising Secretary, a full-time volunteer, an independent bookkeeper and a technical advisor.
Our Chairperson is senior safeguarding and quality assurance manager and our Community Safety Officer a former Chief Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, who assists us in an advisory capacity. Our services are delivered by trained volunteers, who are selected for their common sense and commitment and who have sympathies with our client group, or indeed may once have been members of it. All committee business is conducted at public meetings to which we welcome service users and any other interested parties. We wish our client families to have a sense of shared ownership in the organisation, which exists to support and empower them.
Our Philosophy
Our Quality Commitment
We aim to:
• provide anyone bringing up children with a fast and accurate signposting service.
• work tirelessly to provide specialist and objective information to parents and families in crisis, to design and deliver services to a professional standard and to advance policy research and development.
• positively represent parents and their children.
• be an organisation which is prepared to be innovative and to take considered risks.
• test and demonstrate new ways of working which provide models for mainstream services and inform the policy debate.
• engage strategically with partners from both the voluntary and statutory sectors to develop solutions to meet the needs of parents and families and to ensure that our services are complementary to theirs.
• treat all clients with respect and courtesy to provide a non-judgmental, quality service.
• protect the confidentiality of our clients, supporters and partners.
• consistently review our services and monitor our performance to ensure that we are meeting clients’ needs.
• strive to be a learning organisation which supports staff and volunteers to enable them to maximise their contribution to the achievement of the charity’s objectives.
• be accountable to our clients, our funders, our members, and the public.
A Registered Charity
Parents’ Aid is a voluntary organisation and registered charity (no. 1018739), founded in November 1989, which exists to support families who are at risk of social exclusion.
Aims, Services and Area of Operations:
Parents’ Aid seeks to help families overcome difficulties that may lead to the separation of children from their parents. Our services of
- Information,
- Advocacy,
- Befriending,
- Family Mediation,
- one-to-one Parenting Support
- Anger Management and
- Careers guidance
provide opportunities for concerned individuals to assist parents who are vulnerable or who are struggling to cope. These services are currently provided remotely but may in the future be delivered at local venues offering the facility for service provision in a neutral environment or, where appropriate, direct to the home by appointment with the client. Historically we have been funded by the local authority to work with Essex families but during the pandemic we were obliged to transition to remote service delivery and from this point geographical boundaries became increasingly irrelevant. We are currently unfunded.
Partnership
Parents’ Aid is an independent organisation supporting families but partnership has always been our core policy. We maintain open channels of communication with local Social Services departments and liaise closely with other statutory and voluntary agencies supporting children and their families.
Our Commitment to Privacy
The Way We Use Information
We use email addresses to answer the emails we receive. Such addresses are not used for any other purpose and are not shared with outside parties. We never use or share the personal information provided to us online in ways unrelated to the services we provide.
How You Can Access Or Correct Your Information
You can access all the personal information that we collect online by calling us or sending us an email. You can correct factual errors in your personal information by sending us a request that credibly shows error. To protect your privacy, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections.
Should you have other questions or concerns about 0ur privacy policy, please contact us on 01268-763631/07890 861255.
All information is kept in the strictest confidence and only shared with your permission or if there is the likelihood of risk of significant harm to a child.
©Copyright. All rights reserved.