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The CHAMPIONS Project – Improving Lives for Children Experiencing Homelessness After the Pandemic

The CHAMPIONS Project – Improving Lives for Children Experiencing Homelessness After the Pandemic

The CHAMPIONS Project – Improving Lives for Children Experiencing Homelessness After the Pandemic

Wednesday, July 14, 2021

A new national project is looking at the impact of COVID on ‘invisible’ children in England – can you help the CHAMPIONS Project find families and young people to take part?

We would like to speak to two main groups:

  • families caring for children under 5 living in temporary accommodation (TA) due to experiencing homelessness during the pandemic;
  • and young people also in TA during the pandemic.

The interdisciplinary research team, led by Professor Monica Lakhanpaul (UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), is working in partnership with a community engagement panel. With communities and professionals, we will find out about the challenges that families in TA have faced during the pandemic and co-develop health, housing, education and policy recommendations. These will be tailored and culturally acceptable to communities to give the best results.

We’re doing this by asking people to share their stories and complete interviews and questionnaires – online or over the phone, for COVID-safety – telling us about the impact on them or their child of living in TA during the pandemic.

As we know, experiencing homelessness can affect the rest of a child’s life, leading to greater mental and physical health risks. Many health and support services that support children’s health and wellbeing have been disrupted by the pandemic: for example, at least 50% of health visitors were redeployed, meaning that many children have missed important check-ups.

Despite these challenges, we know that young children can bounce back if given the right help, which is why we must support them during the recovery from the pandemic.

We’ve already started to work alongside policymakers, MPs, and other influencers. Prof. Lakhanpaul and Thelma, a member of our community engagement panel, were invited to speak at the APPG for Ending Homelessness on 8th June. Together, we intend to build support that will lead to meaningful changes to support the children who so badly need it.

But first, we need to speak to people about their experiences, which is where we need your help.

If you know of:

  • anyone who cared for a child under 5 during the pandemic whilst living in temporary accommodation due to experiencing homelessness,
  • or young people aged 10-19 who lived in temporary accommodation due to experiencing homelessness during the pandemic,

please tell them we need their help and would love to hear from them. We provide shopping vouchers for taking part and can arrange a translator or community supporter to be there if needed.

You can find more information here https://www.championsproject.co.uk/takepart or email us at champions@ucl.ac.uk if interested.

People can also send us photographs, videos, and stories confidentially so that we can raise awareness of the challenges: https://www.championsproject.co.uk/yourstories

The project is funded by UKRI and led by University College London and De Montfort University, in partnership with The Children’s Society.

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