23rd April 2004
McN
Threshold,
which is based in Greenock, supports young people aged 16-25 who are moving on
from local authority care or are homeless or at risk of being homeless.
The service, which is run in partnership with Inverclyde Council and
Supporting People, supports vulnerable young people by helping them find
accommodation as well as providing information on accessing benefits, health
services, community-based services, education, training and employment.
Threshold also works with a number of specialists agencies and refers
young people it works with if they need help with problems like alcohol and
drugs misuse.
Threshold
helps vulnerable young people find accommodation through Inverclyde Council and
local housing associations.
Hugh
Mackintosh, director, Scotland – Barnardo’s, said: “Barnardo’s Threshold
service is an excellent example of how partnership working can help vulnerable
young people to live independently.
“For
young people, leaving home is part of the natural transition to independence and
adulthood. But success in managing this move can vary and for many young people
- particularly young people leaving care and those without family support –
and the result can often be homelessness.
“Young
people who have been in care may well have experienced
problems such as neglect, abuse, illness, bereavement, family breakdown and
poverty sometime in their lives. Evidence
shows that they achieve lower academic results and are more likely to be
unemployed and become homeless.
“Young people who
are homeless are at risk. Receiving prompt support and accommodation can
help to prevent a drift into long term homelessness, drug and alcohol use, crime
and exploitation.
“Homelessness
is not just a housing problem. Many young people who are homeless often feel isolated and
need advice and help in accessing mainstream services like health care,
community services, education and training opportunities as well as sometimes
needing basic items like food, bedding and clothes.
“Barnardo’s
Threshold service believes that all young people have the right to an adequate
standard of living and is committed to helping young people make positive steps
to becoming part of the community again.”
Tom Keenan, director of social work services at Inverclyde Council, said: “This new service will ensure that vulnerable young people will get the help they need when they need it and this early and effective support will make the road to independent living as smooth as possible.”
Duncan
McNeil, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, said: “We all remember leaving home
for the first time. And we remember
how our family helped us out – some spare bed linen from your gran; a basic
set of tools from your dad; a stern lecture on managing the housekeeping from
your most severe auntie.
“Setting
up home on your own is daunting enough, but, as Hugh Mackintosh rightly says,
it’s all the harder without that family support.
“That
is why projects such as this are so important.
They give young people who
have hardly had the best start in life the sort of support which most of us are
lucky enough to take for granted.”
ENDS
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