Transforming Child Maintenance Project – the Fife Perspective
We were delighted to be part of this important partnership project to advocate for change to transform our current UK-wide approach to child maintenance, as the current system fundamentally fails children. At Fife Gingerbread we have spent many years tackling child poverty, and child maintenance has always felt like an important missing jigsaw piece! The new project offered us two things: the opportunity to work with partners to advocate for transformational change. Second, the chance to create a new post in Fife centered around a child’s right to receive child maintenance.
That’s where I come in as the Project Coordinator for Child Maintenance. Before this, I had been a Support Worker with Fife Gingerbread for 10 years building up a wealth of experience working with vulnerable families facing multiple and complex barriers centered around poverty and trauma.
Since I started in post in July 2023 I have been developing our test and learn project in Fife focused on how we better help families navigate the status quo i.e. the current system administered by the Child Maintenance Service. It has been a busy year, and a huge learning curve for me. Not only have I been supporting lone parents to navigate a system that is complex, frustrating, and bureaucratic but I’ve also been learning myself. We are proud of what we have achieved so far in Fife, and to be part of the wider project to transform the system and call for change!
A lot can happen in a year…
Since the project started, we have…
- Received 89 referrals ranging from simple advice to complex casework
- Engaged with 82 families, of which 25 have required complex casework
- Piloted a drop-in service for practitioners and parents at Fife Women’s Aid
- Recorded £38,000 financial gain for 26 children in 22 households
The service is making a real difference to families in Fife and is centered around our belief that it is a child’s right to fair financial support from both parents wherever possible.
“I wouldn’t have got where I am today without the support of the project and knowing what rights I have, helping me push further to get a better outcome. It means my girls are finally getting what they are entitled to.” Parent
In addition to directly supporting parents, we've developed our Child Maintenance: Confident Conversations practitioner training. All too often when practitioners host income maximisation conversations with lone parents they focus on benefit entitlements and do not meaningfully include child maintenance in this conversation. Through interactive testing, we have developed a 2-hour practitioner session to build capacity and reduce the stigma of opening up child maintenance conversations. 84 practitioners in Fife have completed the session (so far!) to increase their confidence in discussing and reframing Child Maintenance with a child rights approach.
“Very informative. The training made me think about child maintenance differently and I will definitely be asking parents if their child receives child maintenance now.” Participant
All of the work in Fife has been evaluated by Poverty Alliance to evidence the successes and learnings from the work – Related media articles and publications - One Parent Families Scotland (opfs.org.uk)
What’s next?
The project will continue to support resident parents as they navigate the complex child maintenance system, and I will be testing local community drop-in sessions to connect with more lone-parent families. Additionally, I will be out and about in different areas of Scotland to continue the rollout of practitioner training which will include creating a reflective monthly space for participants to reconnect and develop their practice. Get in touch if you’d like to hear more childmaintenance@fifegingerbread.org.uk. Watch this space for how the second year develops!!