Greetings!
Welcome to the final newsletter of 2009.
This month we focus on children in, or on the edge of care. As the holidays draw near and our thoughts turn to spending time with family and friends it is important to remember that for many children the holidays are a difficult time. A new Anna Freud Centre research project called What Happened Next will help professionals and policy makers understand the best way to help children who may be taken into care.
In this edition we are delighted to update you about many successful events and our ongoing work in the local community to raise funds and let more people know about the Centre, including our partnership with Sainsbury's and the fourth annual Open Afternoon.
We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our donors and supporters a happy and safe holiday season. Thank you so much for your ongoing support; we look forward to keeping in touch with you in 2010.
For more information about the Centre please visit our website. (www.annafreudcentre.org) |
Building a Brighter Future for Vulnerable Children
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The
children who are seen by the Family Assessment Service at the Anna Freud Centre are extremely vulnerable. Most have suffered neglect or maltreatment,
often both.
 A great number of these children will have witnessed domestic
violence, drug abuse and lived with parents or carers suffering from mental
health problems. These traumatic
experiences affect children's life chances; their ability to concentrate at
school and to form relationships with peers frequently suffers.
With a generous grant from the Jeremy and John Sacher Trust the
Anna Freud Centre is undertaking a research project called What Happened Next which will allow professionals, agencies and
policy makers to identify and implement the best ways to improve the outcomes
for children in, or on the edge of, care.
 Project manager Gerry Mulcahy explains how this project will help children:
'Sarah, age 6, suffered neglect and sexual abuse in her family over a
number of years. What Happened Next aims to find out what helped Sarah and many other children
like her overcome the trauma of maltreatment in early childhood so lessons
learned can be used to help other children.'
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Open Afternoon 2009: A Story in Pictures
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Our annual Open Afternoon took place on Sunday 20th September 2009. We were lucky enough to have an expert juggler, Ohad Moran (who also happens to be studying at the Anna Freud Centre) on hand to run workshops for children of all ages.
Another new activity at this year's event was cake decorating, which allowed budding Jamie Olivers and Nigella Lawsons to show their creative side.
Arts and crafts are always very popular stalls at the Open Afternoon, this year was no exception.
Anna Freud Centre staff member Louise Hewitson has been organising the Open Afternoon since our volunteer Fundraising Committee came up with the idea of an annual event in 2006. Louise explains the significance of the event:
'This day is so important to us in terms of raising awareness of the Anna Freud Centre and also bringing local families together to enjoy fun, free activities.'
We would like to thank all staff and volunteers who helped out with this year's event and thanks to all the local businesses who donated prizes for the raffle and tombola.
Thanks to Ben Williams for taking these photographs.
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Conferences Sell Out
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On Saturday 31st October 2009 the Anna Freud Centre and NSPCC co-hosted a sell-out conference at UCL:
Child Abuse: Neuroscience and Intervention. The conference brought together an international group of clinicians and neuroscientists, and provided a unique forum to explore the latest research and innovation in understanding and tackling childhood adversity.
'I had a really excellent day...it is inspiring to see such good links between research and clinical practice.'
Conference delegate
Many delegates went on to attend another sell-out conference, held at the Anna Freud Centre on 21st November: Attachment in Middle Childhood: New Research on Risk and Resilience. For details of forthcoming conferences and courses organised by the Anna Freud Centre please click here.
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