Empowering people to problem solve, together.
How you can help.
What are we trying to achieve?
Imagine people having the support and resources they need to overcome life’s challenges. At Daybreak, we strive towards this vision, by empowering families, individuals, and communities to navigate challenges and identify solutions together with their support network.
Our core aims are to:
Harness the power of families and communities to solve problems
Empower people to proactively engage in decisions that affect them
Champion the voice of the children, young people and adults who might otherwise remain unheard
We do this through Family Group Conferences (FGCs) and other restorative approaches. Our current focus is on developing innovative, early and tailored support for specific needs and communities; whilst also continuing to work closely with Children’s Social Services for families with children on the edge of care.
“I think it will be the start of a new future” - Family Member
We are piloting and seeking funding for programs that work with people to engage their support networks and to, together, establish robust plans specifically related to:
Early intervention to reduce escalating risks for families with children aged 0-11
Addressing the needs of young people at risk of entering the justice system
Supporting adults to safely discharge from the hospital and remain at home
Identifying practical solutions to the unique challenges faced by Armed Forces personnel and their families
Training voluntary and charity sector teams to deliver restorative solutions for their own beneficiaries
With over 25 years of experience, we’ve seen the life-changing difference our work makes, and we invite you to join us as we venture into the next 25 years.
“I think our plan will make things better because it will help me to boost my confidence and communicate with others more” – Young person, after their FGC
Our impact
In 2023/2024 our work included:
518 Family Group Conferences involving 998 children and 89 unborn babies, with the majority involving mental health, domestic violence and abuse and substance misuse
Over 95% of participants reported that the meeting was helpful and that they’d recommend the service to others
Worked closely with Children’s Social Services across seven different Local Authority areas, with over 95% of professionals recommending our service
Delivering training to practitioners and VCS organisations, like Home-Start Portsmouth, to ensure more families and individuals benefit from restorative approaches
“They are not only thinking about themselves, but also Johnny. They communicate so much better now than before” – Referrer, following an FGC that aimed to provide practical support to a parent following concerns around domestic abuse and alcohol misuse.
Our current needs
We have two focuses currently – Moving Forward Together, and Thrive.
Moving Forward Together
This project seeks to offer community-access Family Group Conferences in specific geographic areas, and tailored to different communities (as above). Your funding would allow us to scale initiatives like:
Portsmouth Program: early intervention for Portsmouth families with children aged 0-11, deescalating risks before any need for Social Service intervention
Reading Pilot: holistic person-led solutions for safe hospital discharge, benefiting both individuals and the hospitals
“It has given me reassurance – it has shown me that my friends are here for us and the boys” – mother
What would your funding enable us to do?
A donation or funding of £1,600 would enable us to work closely with an identified individual, child or family. This would involve:
An impartial and independent Coordinator working alongside those involved to identify risks and aims for our work
Identifying, engaging and preparing a broad support network – including family, friends, colleagues, community members and relevant professionals
Coordinating a meeting that seeks to ensure everyone is informed of the situation, risks and opportunities, and allows the family to devise a robust plan, uniquely without professional input
Validation of the plan to ensure that it provides the family with clear, tangible and accountable actions that address the needs identified
An optional review, a few months later to check in, celebrate and adapt with the network
Smaller donations would allow us to provide each family or network with:
£5 – Activities to help children participate
£15 - Food and refreshments to positive environment at Conferences
£20 - Advocacy support to ensure voices are heard and listened too
£45 - Travel costs so that Coordinators can meet all participants face to face
£50 – Language interpretation for non-English speakers
£75 - Venue hire for neutral and suitable places to gather the network
£200 –Review session to evaluate and celebrate progress
“Having the meeting has given the family a better understanding of what’s going on and they feel supported by family and friends” – family member
Thrive
Thrive focuses on increasingly vital core funding. It ensures that we can continue to deliver outcomes for families and communities throughout all our existing programmes – as well as design and launch new ones to broaden our reach and impact.
Why partner with us
Your support would enable us to:
Facilitate decision-making processes that empower families and individuals to create their own safe and sustainable solutions.
Expand access to our services and reach more individuals and communities, earlier.
Innovate and lead change by developing new programs that address emerging needs in child welfare, community health and social care, and create lifelong connections and support networks.
We value all and any support that we receive; we see daily the power of partnerships to resolve challenges. We work closely with funders, ensuring that they we are transparent in our delivery and outcomes, as well as by keeping those who enable us informed through regular updates, stories and progress reports.
“You come in at family’s most vulnerable times, their most stressful, most uncertain, most alone times and you connect them to the people who care about them the most, allowing us to rebuild, reassure, and even rescue. We may be the lifeline, but you give us the rope.” – family member who took part in an FGC that prevented a child from entering the care system
Get in touch
If you would like to talk to us about funding opportunities, we would welcome this.
Please reach out to Jessica Clasby-Monk, our Fundraising and Marketing Manager, or Debbie Burns, our CEO.
To stay up to date with our work, please do follow us on LinkedIn.
Together, we can shape the next 25 years of Daybreak’s impact, creating stronger families, empowered communities, and safer futures.