Struggling with debt after fleeing years of abuse

We received a referral in August 2019, following a mum having support with food from our People’s Pantry, recently out of work and awaiting her first universal credit payment, hit with quite a lot of debt and not getting the full benefits she was entitled to. Whilst completing a referral form with one of our Family Support team, we were made aware that this family had been having a tough time.  As a result of Mum suffering domestic abuse at the hands of a violent perpetrator her older children were placed with family member. Suffering in silence after such a traumatic experience this amazing Mum is now working hard to ensure that her youngest child remains in her care. Being in debt inevitably led to feeling isolated with nowhere to turn, her mental health soon deteriorated.

Our Family Support team supported mum with phone calls to the relevant benefit agencies and ensured that the family had a clear view of the situation. Since these phone calls, we have been able to ensure that this mum is now getting the correct number of benefits that her family are entitled to, meaning that mum is now able to start making more payments toward her debts.  The family were also without a washing machine and had to rely on the local laundrette or family members to wash their clothing. Because of current lockdown restrictions this became even more difficult so we quickly applied for funding and were successful and able to support this family by getting them a washing machine. Whilst supporting this family, we became aware that the family cooker was unsafe to use. We quickly provided the family with a slow cooker and were able to support this family again securing  some funding to provide the family with a gas cooker, meaning mum was able to ensure her child could have a hot cooked meal at home.  We support many, many families in situations such as this one, with many different  reasons bringing a family to us at Alice Charity.

If you would like to help us to help families who just need one Act of Kindness to show them that there are people who care about them, please contact us info@alicecharity.org or call us 01782 627017

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