KidsOut - Top 10 Facts

 


KidsOut help children across the country every day. To visit their website and find out more about them please visit www.kidsout.org.uk.

1. In 2007/08 we helped an estimated 55,000 children throughout the UK.

2. 83p in every £1 spent by KidsOut goes directly on services for children and young people, something most charities can only dream of doing.

3. Over 19,000 children with their mothers seek shelter from domestic
violence every year. KidsOut is working with over 100 Women’s Aid refuges, as well as Argos, DHL and Mothercare, to provide boxes of brand new toys for the children when they are re-housed with their mums, to bring joy and normality into their lives.

4. Over three million young people live in rural areas, many of whom are
isolated from resources and activities by factors such as poverty and poor public transport. KidsOut’s Multi-Media Mobiles reach out to these young people and give them activities they enjoy, led by youth workers they can relate to, in a space they want to share with their friends. We have a static pilot project in an urban area too.

5. KidsOut’s Phyzzpod Project is extending access to sensory play to thousands of disabled and disadvantaged children under the age of five. Sensory play is vital in stimulating their imaginations, developing speech & language and helping to ‘make their minds fit for learning’. It’s usually only available to a relatively small number of disabled children over the age of five or those in hospices.
 
6. Disadvantaged children grow up with limited experiences and narrow horizons; their experience of the world is often limited to a ½ mile radius of their homes. Through the power of stories, as well as linking with children in other countries, KidsOut is seeking to make the wider world a reality to these children; helping them to expand their horizons and open the doors of their imaginations.

7. Many children are raised with the TV or the computer as the thing they interact with most. Through its new ‘Boat Float’ initiative, Kidsout will give thousands of children the chance to put their hands and imaginations to work building model boats from recycled materials. It will also allow parents to realise the value of play and help the environment too!

8. Everything we do is based on understanding. Understanding children & young people and the reality of their lives is at the heart of everything we do.  Our understanding is based on what the children and young people tell us, the input of our partners who work directly with disabled and disadvantaged kids every day and the experience of our Children’s Services team.  Everything we do is developed in consultation with children, young people, families and front-line workers and then piloted to see if we’ve got it right. Only then do we seek to roll it out across the country. This ensures that all our services are really effective.

9. Small means flexible. KidsOut prides itself on being small enough to be able to respond at speed where children or young people are in crisis.  Even in extreme situations, a little money can go a long way.  For example, we paid for flights to America for a young person and his two much younger siblings to visit their only remaining relatives after they lost both parents.

10. We have a very small core group of staff plus the support of volunteers. KidsOut’s creative thinking and ability to attract partners is what enables us to reach so many children from such a small base, making a real, tangible, difference to the lives of children and young people.