Children and Families Work

Our Children and Families Work supports local parents and children

We offer a weekly drop in group (during term time), activities and trips during school holidays, advice and advocacy, English classes, a baby bank and help with school uniform.

Our Children and Families Work (CFW) supports families who are new to the area or who are feeling isolated, lonely or going through a difficult time. We can visit you at home, help you with finding your way around the area, introduce you to local people and groups and go with you to appointments. There are also practical ways in which we can support, including help with accessing our Baby Bank for baby items and the local Food Bank for emergency food supplies. We can also support with advocacy, filling in forms and linking you up with money advisors.

Welcome to Ladywood - Weekly Drop-In Group, Ladywood Methodist Church

Moving to a new area can be intimidating and lonely. Our Drop-In group (also a Warm Welcome location) is a place where you can come and meet others, find out about local services and enjoy various games, crafts, cultural celebrations etc. We are a friendly and welcoming group, and often share food together. All are welcome, whether you are new to the area or have lived in Ladywood all your life! A crèche operates for younger children so that parents can enjoy some time with others. We also offer activities for under fives and trips for the whole family during the holidays.
Thursdays, during school term time, 1.00 - 3.00pm

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) - weekly

This class is offered twice weekly for those who don't have English as a first language. One class is 'conversational English', a gentle introduction for those who are new to the language, and the other class is for more advanced speakers. It is friendly and welcoming and classes are free. We provide a crèche for children under five in the same hall. We have no exams or accreditation and the classes are a great stepping-stone to college when people feel more confident. Our classes are just right for you if any one of the following circumstances apply to you:

Are local to Ladywood
Don't go to college
Are a refugee or asylum seeker

Fridays, during school term time, 10am - 12 noon

Please call us on 0121 455 7524 to check there are places, or visit us.

Karis Baby Bank

We run a busy baby bank for referred families who are on low incomes, homeless or dealing with other difficult circumstances. Please see our separate page here for this service.

Client stories

Amiya (not her real name) has been struggling with terrible housing conditions, especially damp. Her youngest son was hospitalised several times last year with chest infections and breathing difficulties. The CFW project assistant (Liz) set up several appointments for Amiya to speak with someone from Shelter at the Karis office. Liz had also attended a training session by Green Doctor, a new energy efficiency scheme run by the charity Groundwork, and so when visiting Amiya at home Liz was able to refer the family to see if Green Doctor could help at all. This is a quote from Amiya after Green Doctor had visited her. “A massive thank you for the Green Doctor connection. Mr Chris visited today and he gave helpful advice and information about the flat and how to deal with the landlord regarding the leaking…… he gave me vouchers for the energy and gas costs as he saw my bill, I will have a dehumidifier from tomorrow for my flat and an electric duvet blanket…….. Thank you very much for all your help.”

Time spent with another family demonstrates the value of befriending: an internally referred client had already benefited from access to our baby bank, and we could observe some immediate relief in her situation, but there are nearly always longer-term issues. On one recent visit to the family (housed in emergency accommodation at one of the hotels), we found they were very bored. The children had no school places, so were on phones all day. The next visit the project lead took some games, books, jigsaws and colouring, and saw the children light up as the items were removed from the bag. Mum joined in with the activities, taking great delight in the colouring and mentioning many times how happy this had made the family. The project lead then invited them to attend the Drop In group (which had been previously offered) and this was met with much more interest this time. Games with them all had helped to engage their interest and encourage them to do more. Our aim to walk alongside families, showing that special ‘Karis’ love and care, allows us to think creatively to work out what will most bless the family and make it happen. It's a great pleasure to be able to do that.

This work is supported by

Forte Charitable Foundation

WA Cadbury Trust

Hortons Social Purpose Committee

Cole Charitable Trust

George Henry Collins Trust

Leeds Building Society Foundation

Saintbury Trust

South Birmingham Friends' Institute

Truelight Trust

Grantham Yorke Trust

Birmingham City Council's Warm Welcome Fund

Individual donors