April is Month of the Military Child and is a designated time to celebrate and raise awareness of the unique experiences of children whose parents serve in the Armed Forces.
Did you know that the official emblem of the Month of the Military Child is a dandelion?
This is because its seeds are blown far and wide by the wind, but it is still able to plant roots and blossom wherever the seeds land.
Never Such Innocence is running an Art and Poetry Competition from the 1st of April – 3rd of May with the theme of ‘Life as a Dandelion’.
The competition is open to Tri-service children, with a currently serving or veteran parent and bereaved children, 6-18 years old.
Click here to find out more
We understand that Military children go through numerous challenges, and also sacrifice a lot, so we work with a variety of organisations that are devoted to providing support to families and the children of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Below you can see a list of different partner organisations and some of the support they provide:
Royal Navy Family and People Support
Royal Navy Family and People Support (RN FPS) is the Royal Navy’s Welfare Service and provides compassionate support services to help serving personnel and their families.
Their Information Support team can provide you with impartial information on a range of support services across the UK and guide you to Secondary Welfare services where appropriate.
Secondary Welfare, carried out by professionally trained military and civilian staff who provide bespoke support at times of personal crisis can be accessed by calling the RN FPS Portal for free on 0800 145 6088.
They also host a range of events and activities for serving personnel and their families such as informative talks, Christmas Parties, and Easter Egg hunts at community centres that are located near naval bases. To find out what is available in your local area, log in to the Royal Navy Forum: Royal Navy Forum (mod.uk)
Aggie Weston's provides pastoral support and practical activities.
Their network of Pastoral workers spans the UK and work outside the chain of command and provide a safe space for you and your family. They are there to listen to you and your family, offer comfort, support and encouragement and signpost you when needed.
Aggie’s practical projects include Storybook Waves, which enables you to record a bedtime story for your children to listen to whilst you are separated, and Community Waves, which provides a timetable of events for families based in Portsmouth and Plymouth.
Our work with Home Start UK enables service families to access any Home Start across the UK. Each branch has a local community network of trained volunteers and expert support helping families with young children through their challenging times.
We also provide funding for specific programmes and activities for serving families that are facilitated by several different Home Start branches. Some examples of these specific projects are listed below:
Mums on Board and Dads on Board, facilitated by Home Start South and West Devon. These are online, groups for expectant parents or parents of children under the age of 5 where at least one parent is serving.
The Nurturing Programme, facilitated by Home Start Portsmouth. This is a 10-week parenting course which empowers parents to build on positive relationships, reflect on their parenting style, and create a toolkit of parenting strategies.
Kids provides a wide range of services nationally for disabled children, young people and their families.
For several years, Kids has provided support to young carers with a naval connection in the Hampshire area through their Fareham and Gosport Young Carers Service. This is a regular club where young carers can open up about their feelings in a safe, understanding space.
They also provide support for young carers from service families across the country. By getting in touch and sharing your concerns with them, they can help by finding local support and brokering communications with other providers.
Naval Children’s Charity provides financial and holistic support to help children (up to the age of 25) of Naval families, serving and veterans. This includes children of the Royal Navy, the Royal Fleet Auxiliary RFA, the Royal Marines, the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) and the Reserves of those Forces.
For example, their ‘Life Chances programme’ offers opportunities ranging from voyages with the Tall Ships Youth Trust, where young people can go on sponsored voyages experiencing a fantastic adventure as well as enabling them to achieve their RYA Competent Crew Certificate and, if appropriate, contribute towards the Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, or the offer from ACE London Irish for budding Rugby players.
Naval Families Federation provides support, drives change and champions RN and RM serving families as they navigate both serving and civilian life challenges.
They have a range of resources available on their website with a lot of general information to help you with some key issues affecting RN and RM families.
They have covered topics such as family separation and wellbeing, parental absence, leaving the service, and employment training for spouses or partners and children of serving Armed Forces personnel.
Sailors’ Children’s Society offers financial and emotional support to children and families from seafaring backgrounds who are in a time of crisis.
This can come in the form of a monthly financial grant, regular clothing grants to help with school uniforms and seasonal clothing needs, or funding for a Complete home computer package which includes home computer, printer, and USB stick. They can also continue to support young people past the age of 18 if they wish to attend college or university. If they are supported on the child welfare scheme, they can apply for a welfare grant to help with the costs of living away from home while they study.
Their trained family support workers provide emotional and practical support and are a friendly ear in times of need.
In addition to this, they own 9 static caravans based in some of the UK’s most popular coastal resorts and offer free respite breaks to the families they support. Families can also apply for a travel grant to help with the transport costs of the holiday.
Storybook Waves helps members of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary maintain the link with their children by recording a bedtime story for them to listen to when a parent is serving away from home.
NCC has teamed up with Naval families Federation to offer books and resources for naval children, young adults, parents and carers.
For example, they have a ‘Wellbeing Box’ available for children aged 7-13 years which includes:
- A copy of the award winning ‘A Better Day’ handbook by Dr Alex George.
- The ‘Happy Confident Me’ Journal by Annabel Rosenhead & Nadim Saad.
- Happy Confident Me ‘Feel It!’ cards to help process different emotions.
- A photo Album.
- Forget-me-not seeds.
Provides books, scrapbooks and journals to Service children. The charity also supports book clubs for juniors, seniors, and adults, with three free books and guidance.
NFF Parental Absence and Family Support
In response to feedback from families, the Naval Families Federation has produced a resource about the experience of parental absence.
Kings Camps: Activity Camps for Children Aged 5-14:
Sports and activity camps for children and young people aged 5-14 during school holidays. Exclusively for children from Royal Navy families at 10 venues across the UK. Places are subsidised by the RNRMC to make camps affordable for as many families as possible.
It’s the perfect service to enable children to get active and having fun during their school holidays, and it provides parents with a fantastic childcare solution.
The Weekender Residential Leadership Weekend:
The Weekender is an activity and leadership weekend for young people (14-17) from Royal Navy Families, based at world-class Bath University.
From 15, teens attending the Rookie Academy work and play alongside our Red Tops. Rookies enjoy activities, develop leadership skills, improve confidence levels and often they go on to work as one of our team.
Developed in partnership with the Gosport and Fareham Multi Academy Trust (GFMAT), the Hub is located within the grounds of Brune Park Community School and aims to support Gosport’s significant number of Royal Navy families, as well as the wider community.
Drumfork Community Centre offers a varied programme of activities and facilities, as well as a nursery, to the service and wider community in and around the Helensburgh area. The Centre also provides a variety of flexible hireable rooms available for small or large group activities.
