Contact

Contact person: Dirk Rombouts (Coördinator)
Name of the organisation:
Address: Zeilstraat 16, Antwerpen 2060
Belgium
Telnr: +32 3 236 85 66
Faxnr: +32 3 669 60 76
Email: bubbels.babbels@skynet.be
Website: www.bubbelsbabbels.be

Activities

The field(s) of activity for the initiative are:
- Social work

The activities and services the initiative offers are:
- Intensive and highly demand-led form of route counselling (case management) for (former) drug-dependent parents with young children;
-
- Promotion of expertise for intermediaries concerning problems of drug use and pregnancy/parenting;
-
- Advisory and consultative function concerning these problems.

Target population

The target populations for the initiative are:
- Drug/alcohol users

The number of people reaches at the moment is: Between 26 and 50 persons

Total number of men: 20%

Total number of woman: 80%

Distribution by country:

Country	Men	Woman
Nationals (80%) E.U. (10%) Not - E.U. (10%)	20% 50% 0%	80% 50% 100%

Location

The initiative is situated: In an urban area

The village or town where the initiative is situated counts 150000-499999 inhabitants

The initiative is active in: In a less developed urban area of a town

Personel

Employees

Employees are active in the initiative (full-time equivalent): Less than 10 employees

Number of men: 1

Number of women: 2

Number of nationals: 3

Number of non-nationals: 0

The professional profiles of the employees are:
Remedial educationalist
Social worker
Sociologist

Volunteers

Volunteers are active in the initiative (full-time equivalent): None

Number of men:

Number of women:

Number of nationals:

Number of non-nationals:

The roles the volunteers take up in the initiative are:

Finances

The annual budget of the initiative is:108 390 euro

The staff costs are 96 000 euro and the working costs are 12 390 euro

The main funders of the initiative are:
- Local authorities
province of Antwerp

The initiative is secured of: Temporary funding

Other ways of funding for the initiative are:

The legal status of the initiative is: Association/NGO

The date of establishment of the initiative is: November 2001

Vision that prompted the formation of the initiative:
Empowerment + harm reduction.

Aims and objectives of the initiative:
Key objective: Bubbels & Babbels aims to guarantee basic care for children of (former) drug-dependent parents and to provide them with optimum developmental opportunities. Operational objectives: 1. The (temporary) formation and maintenance of an integrated support network around parent(s) and child, geared towards: - early detection of problems which could hinder the development of the child; - improving the physical and emotional world of the child; - guaranteeing optimum development of the child; - excluding risk situations within the family or limiting them as far as possible; - giving the parent(s) an insight into their problems, the needs of the children and making them aware of their own strengths (empowerment); - providing support rapidly, efficiently and in the least intrusive way for the problems arising within the family. 2. Achieving mutual alignment between the various relief organisations and ensuring care continuity if the child risks disappearing from the relief radar. 3. Increasing expertise within the area of activity concerning the problems of drug use and pregnancy/parenting by: - developing and disseminating accessible training material; - organising made-to-measure training; - providing an advisory and consultation function for social workers dealing with these problems. 4. Detecting structural bottlenecks related to drug use and pregnancy/parenting at the various policy levels. Through counselling, B&B aims to allow parents to integrate the responsibilities associated with care of their child into their daily lives in an adequate way. Parents are encouraged to work out independent solutions for future child-rearing problems.

History of the initiative:
In the first instance, the former CLG Free Clinic dealt primarily with the problems of the children of drug-dependent parents in the Antwerp region as well as carrying out the necessary pioneering work at this level. From the beginning of the nineteen nineties, they increasingly observed that their clients also seemed to have children, apart from their addiction problems. In the majority of cases, the children were placed fairly quickly but a number of clients nonetheless seemed to succeed - albeit with ups and downs - in fulfilling their parental roles adequately. In order to support these clients, mothers' groups were started up, in addition to intensive psychosocial counselling sessions. In this way, attempts were made to devote attention to caring for these children. In addition, very close cooperation has developed over the years with some Antwerp maternity clinics. Pregnant drug users always received preferential treatment within the Free Clinic and great importance was attached to prenatal and postnatal follow-up. At the initiative of the Free Clinic, regular harmonisation meetings were also organised with other relevant social services focusing on a safe child-rearing climate and employees were sent on a course in order to be able to detect the developmental needs of children more accurately. At the end of the nineteen nineties, the CLG was converted into a Medical Social Reception Centre (MSOC) and the division of tasks was changed. The particularly time-consuming monitoring of clients' children was placed at considerable risk as a result. Apart from this, the discussion also intensified within the organisation about whether the MSOC should assume this task or whether this responsibility should not instead lie with other services. The somewhat ambiguous position that staff had to assume with respect to clients with children did in fact cause some problems on occasion. Particularly when the child's situation became so difficult that intervention became virtually unavoidable, this led to crises more than once. The often long-term and carefully nurtured relationship of trust with the client was so often placed under pressure or was broken once the team had taken initiatives to place the child in a safe situation. As a result, in the spring of 1999, those in charge of drugs social services, special youth welfare, the Youth Brigade Social Services, Kind & Gezin and Judicial Welfare Work submitted an application to the former Social Incentive Fund (SIF) of the City of Antwerp to finance the development of a pilot project aimed at children in risk situations and, more specifically, at children of (former) drug-dependent parents. The application was approved for three years and, at the end of 1999, one employee was able to start developing this project. The first working title was "Nood-project", where the acronym "Nood" (Emergency) stood for the Dutch for "Network development concerning Child-rearing Support for Parents with a Drug Problem". Over the course of 2000, the model concept of the project gradually took shape and the time seemed ripe for actually making a start on practical implementation. However, this required expanding the staff to include one case manager. The pledge for this and the expansion of operating funds from the Social Incentive Fund (SIF) came at the beginning of 2001. In the mean time, work had already started on looking for a suitable location which was eventually found, after a long search, in Zeilstraat (north Antwerp). Two part-time case managers were then recruited and, now that the project could effectively be launched to the outside world, a more attractive project name was sought, resulting in Bubbels & Babbels. On 9 November 2001, Bubbels & Babbels was given a festive launch at its new location. When the then Social Incentive Fund expired at the end of 2002, for some time it was uncertain whether the project could be continued. Ultimately, it appeared that the Cities Fund, the successor to the SIF, would guarantee financing for the project for the next 6 years if it continued to fulfil the stated expectations.

Approach of working:
Bubbels & Babbels has chosen to provide a response to the stated needs within these families using the methodology of case management. Through case management, contact with the surrounding environment is promoted and efforts are made to raise awareness. The intention is to provide help that fits in as closely as possible with their needs and requirements and that also provides for the children's basic care. However, case management is a container term that has been interpreted in recent years as people saw fit. Various models of case management thus exist. As a result, we will reproduce below what we within Bubbels & Babbels understand by it. Method Roughly speaking, this method means that one of the partners in the project joint venture registers a client system (the parent(s), the child or children). Then an initial evaluation takes place of whether this client system belongs in the target group. If this is the case and this client system also shows a willingness to cooperate, one of the case managers will further inform the client about the operation of the project. This can take place at the client's home, at another (relief) organisation or at Bubbels & Babbels. During subsequent contacts, the parents' problem areas are defined and the children's basic care is evaluated. Based on this evaluation, the case manager and the parent(s) establish work arrangements and goals. Then the work arrangements and goals are established in writing in a work plan linked to an evaluation with a previously agreed timetable. This work plan forms the starting point for a round table or harmonisation consultation to which the parents are invited, together with the relevant (social work) partners. After this consultation, the case manager will regularly evaluate, together with the parents and social workers, whether the stated work goals are being attained. This can lead to the work plan and/or the work goals having to be adjusted. If this is the case, new arrangements will be made during subsequent consultation with parents and social workers, which are then monitored by the case manager. The counselling continues as long as the parents cooperate. If parents drop out and can no longer be motivated to participate in the project in any way, the case managers will inform all parties in question of the fact that Bubbels & Babbels can no longer fulfil a controlling function.

Management decisions and tasks:
Steering group which meets every three months and in which all founding partner organisations are represented.


No organisation chart available.

Training

For the staff, the following training is provided:
Possibility of training and refresher courses depending on duties. Annual budget of 250 euros per person.

This training is carried out by:
Varies widely: interaction academy, one-off initiatives by VAD (umbrella organisation for drugs services), etc..

For volunteers, the following training is provided:


This training is carried out by:



Collaboration

The initiative takes part of the following network(s):

Name of the network

Short description

The initiative interacts with the following groups:
- Relevant and interested bodies (eg. ethnic groups; womens's organisations; poverty bodies)
- Grass-root organisations (eg selforganisations of unemployed; of poor)

3. Results and prospects

Bubbels & Babbels van Free Clinic vzw (Belgique)

Results of the initiative:
- supporting (former) drug-dependent parents in their parental roles. Setting up, monitoring, evaluating and, where necessary, adjusting networks of formal and informal support around these families; trying to put these parents back in control of their own social services route; - setting problems of drug abuse and pregnancy/parenting in a broader context regarding the outside world. Making distinctions and giving social workers a foothold for using them.

Contribution to the fight against poverty and social exclusion:
Firstly, by addressing this target group concerning its parental role and actively involving those concerned in developing a support plan, in its evaluation and adjustment, learning from these parents that, despite their current or previous drug use, they still matter and that their voices as parents are heard. In addition, in terms of social services, attempts are made to provide more knowledge about the causes and approach to this group of (future) parents, as a result of which these parents understand themselves better and should feel better supported. Prejudices and stigmatisation are actively combated.

Success factors:
- 1. non-judgemental attitude towards client, as well as towards other relevant services;
- 2. supportive offer to relevant services: advisory and consultancy function;
- 3. pro-active and outreach attitude;
- 4. on-going feedback and assessment of all activities undertaken regarding the client;
- 5. close collaboration agreements with relevant partners + usual dose of diplomacy.

Barriers:
- 1. Lack of low-threshold child-rearing support initiatives;
- 2. Lack of residential treatment facilities within drugs relief, where mothers and children can be admitted together;
- 3. Rigidity of some second-line services regarding collaboration (poor exchange of information, lack of clear vision concerning problems, etc.);
- 4. The high degree to which services pay lip service to demand-led working and the limited extent to which this is expressed in practice.

Plans of the intiative in the near future and on a longer perspective:

- regular establishment; - recognition as centre of expertise on the level of drug abuse/pregnancy/ parenting.

Evaluation in the initiativee:
All components of the project are regularly evaluated for all those involved. For example, after one year of practice, a survey was carried out among all clients involved in the project so far, as well as social workers and network members. In 2003, a final year student of remedial education at the University of Ghent was given the task, at the request of Bubbels & Babbels, of setting up a satisfaction survey among parents and network members who have already worked with Bubbels & Babbels. For this purpose, dozens of in-depth interviews were conducted and the results then compiled into a research report. This report will be available in mid-2004. Finally, during the current counselling sessions, feedback is continually given to all those involved as part of quality control. Poor communication or role confusion seem to be the most common aspects that can put a spanner in the works. Thus, after every round table meeting, those involved are systematically contacted with a request to provide individual feedback on the past meeting.

Innovation
- Regular and on-going questioning of clients and relevant partners; - Evaluation survey.

Participation

Participation in the initiative (on the client level and/or on the organisation level) is possible on the following way:
1. client registration can be at own initiative or via referral from another service;

Participation in the decision-making process of the initiative is possible in the following way:
1. Via the quarterly steering group (as far as the founding partner organisations are concerned);

Following types of participants are involved in the initiative:
- clients

Communication

The initiative communicates information by:

- local media
- internet presence
- publications
- newsletter
- articles in trade journals (national and international)

Influence

This initiative has stimulated other projects?
Yes

This project has stimulated the following projects in this way:
We currently have no hard evidence for this, but suspect that it has encouraged several services to think about client-led and demand-led working.

The initiative influenced policies with respect to:
- Policy of the organisation to which the project is linked?
- Policy of partners?
- Policy of other organisations dealing with client groups?

This initiative is aware of the National Action Plan on Inclusion?
No

Suggestions for starting local initiatives in the struggle against poverty and social exclusion
- - Set sufficient time aside for getting to know the territory, try to create as large a basis as possible that is actively involved in establishing the initiative. Try to bring together as many leaders from various partners in the steering body. In this way, it will be easier later on to obtain a control mandate;
-
- - Create as autonomous an identity as possible, preferably in neutral accommodation. Be as unattached as possible. Put the interests of the client above the interests of the participating bodies but do not communicate this directly to the latter;