The dire housing problem in many parts of the UK means that thousands of mothers and their young children live in abject conditions. One of the most affected areas is Newham in East London. This borough has the most people in temporary accommodation in the country. Many are single mothers who have no access to public funds.
In 2017, a group of 15 Newham mothers, grandmothers, daughters and members of the public took it upon themselves to do something. The group had one room and just £600 to spend on a pilot – it was here that The Magpie Project began.
Jane Williams, CEO and founder, says, ‘The main aim of the Magpie Project is to make sure that every child within Newham and surrounding boroughs get their basic needs met no matter what their status, what their nationality, what their mother’s status.’
The project started with providing a clean and warm place to spend their days and have fun. Eight years on, it employs many professionals in addition to the volunteers and offers a huge range of services. In 2020, the project won the Homeless link award in recognition of its indefatigable and life-giving work during the Covid-19 pandemic.
WHAT HAPPENS AT THE MAGPIE PROJECT?
Pre-Covid, the Magpie Project ran three sessions a week for families. Jane describes these as ‘a sort of supported stay-and-play where mums could come get breakfast, get lunch and their children could have a play around. Then we brought in professionals to help mums with situations they find themselves in.’
The Magpie Project is now open five days a week during term time. Jules Robertson, family support manager, describes the project as ‘one big, warm smile and hug. Mums come – usually in crisis – and someone will smile at them and make them feel welcome and see how we can help.’
Magpie provides essentials such as nappies, clothes, travel expenses, nutritious snacks and meals, hot drinks and food bank referrals. It also helps women get support and advice from shelter and housing organisations, health visitors, children’s centre family support workers and a steering committee.
The project offers activities and workshops such as art with a resident artist, messy play, reiki, dance, music, crafts and indoor and outdoor play.
The Pathways Project
This provides support and advocates for mothers of children who have emerging special educational needs. Health professionals and early years specialists attend a stay-and-play where they listen to the mothers talk about the barriers they face accessing early help and diagnosis for their children. Jane says, ‘We are working together to co-design pathways, recommendations and service design that makes it easier for our mums to get their children the help they need.’
Marcia Thompson, graduation manager at The Magpie Project, says, ‘The support we provide is to empower, motivate, give mums the confidence to live their lives to the fullest. If we can help one woman overcome some of the barriers, it means so much to us.’
‘NO CHILD IN A HOME WITHOUT A KITCHEN’ CAMPAIGN
Magpie is currently running a campaign that was prompted by one mother, known as Mama R.
Last year, Mama R and her family had to struggle through Ramadan, living in a hotel that didn’t have cooking facilities and banned food being stored. Trying to get hold of food in local shops or restaurants before dawn and after dusk was impossible. Mama R and her family had to leave their accommodation to eat every meal. ‘We had to eat outside. We would go to Tesco as that was the only store open to buy cheese and toast after a long day of fasting,’ Mama R. says.
She adds, ‘At that time, I was breastfeeding my child. I needed a lot of vitamins and protein. This is what I would have gotten if I were at home and cooking during Ramadan. It was a very difficult experience.’
Many women will be facing the same circumstances and struggle next year, hence the campaign. Magpie believes that ‘everyone has a human right to be able to undertake their religious observations unhindered’. The ‘No child in a home without a kitchen’ campaign and petition call for three changes:
- An immediate support package for families including community kitchens and financial aid.
- That families are not housed in hotels without a kitchen for more than the six-week legal limit.
- A ban on using hotels without a kitchen for the under-fives.
PROFESSIONAL PARTNERS AND FUNDERS
Expertise from a wide range of professionals is pivotal to the success and growth of The Magpie Project.
Shelter has been involved from the very beginning. It offers case workers to support with housing and helps with homelessness applications, representation in evictions and making complaints about poor conditions.
Newham health visitors and nursery nurses visit Magpie every week. The health visitor helps with safeguarding concerns, connecting the children with a health-visiting team and making referrals to other services. The nursery nurses support the women with health concerns and give advice about sleeping, etc.
Newham Children’s Centres are central to the running of Magpie. They help by ensuring each child is registered with their local Children’s Centre, offering family support and providing parenting classes and safeguarding expertise.
Praxis, the immigration organisation, supplies an advisor once a week. They support mothers with applying for the right to remain, advising on asylum claims and any associated difficulties.
Several other supporters contribute to the running of Magpie, along with many funders, including the National Lottery and Children in Need.
TRUE GRIT
The Magpie Project is clearly a life-changing charity for mothers and their young children. Its evolution and development share many similarities with the Market Nursery that I wrote about in the August issue. In both cases a group of volunteer women recognised the critical need to help mothers and their families in crisis, and did.
These two grassroots projects are 50 years apart, but share several similarities. They both came into being to help women and families in desperate circumstances. Both organisations required a huge amount of grit and phenomenally hard work, against all the odds, to succeed. It would be good to see an end to such appalling and inhumane situations in the next 50 years. In the meantime, we can only commend and support all these courageous and inspirational women: both workers and users.
What Magpie mums say…
‘Staying alone in the room – it was very difficult for me, so coming here was making social for me. So, it was good.’
‘He grew up here you know. When I came here, he was only two months, and now he’s one and a half. So, he learned everything here. It’s like a second home to him.’
‘They have a lot of toys here to play with, and for us it’s good because we can stay with other people enjoying and the kids enjoying with playing.’
‘They treat everyone as like a family. My son is very happy to come here, and they also provide everything which I need most.’
‘Without Magpie, I think I’d be depressed by now. They help with nappies, clothes, breakfast, lunch, toiletries – it’s a lot.’
‘I found a lot of friends. They are from many countries, many cultures. Every person smiles and “welcome, welcome”’. Every person is magic.’
FURTHER INFORMATION
- The Magpie Project: themagpieproject.org
- Praxis: praxis.org.uk
- Homeless link award: wired-gov.net
