Right Time, Right Support

Smarter support for families to keep young people out of care and out of trouble.

Catch22's Right Time, Right Support report (PDF, 4.5MB) calls on local authorities to take the lead and protect a portion of the Early Intervention Grant for use in supporting teens and their families.

Speaking about the report and its findings, Catch22 Chief Executive Joyce Moseley says:

'Nobody would disagree with the concept of early intervention but early isn’t just about age; families can face challenges at any time. Our work with young people in their teens shows that when their families struggle to cope they can end up in care or in trouble with the law; an outcome that not only damages the young person’s life chances but affects the whole family’s well-being and cost us dear in public spending.'

Family Intervention Projects

The Right Time, Right Support report shows that providing ‘whole family’ support, evidenced through Catch22’s work in Family Intervention Projects (FIPs), gets results.

Since their inception, FIPs have supported almost 5,000 families nationally and their outcomes are impressive. The Government’s own evaluation shows a 47% reduction in the number of families experiencing risks associated with poor family functioning and a 47% reduction in the number of families involved in anti-social behaviour and crime.

Catch22 developed its own model (RLife in Essex) for working with families under stress. RLife provides intensive interventions with young people aged 12 to 18-years-old and their families, to bring a ‘whole system’ approach to supporting them. Of the young people who used the service, 89% where kept out of care.

Rethinking how we support young people and their families

Catch22 is calling on all sections of society to rethink how we support young people and their families so that we can reduce the number going into care and keep them out of trouble.

Catch22 will be launching an appeal later in the year to support this work.

Download the Right Time, Right Support report including our recommendations for getting it right for young people and their families.