Faith in Families

“It’s not about biological family, it’s about the people who you can rely on to offer you love and support. And that’s definitely my friends. And I feel proud of myself, of my son and of the people around here as well.”

Mother-of-two Kat Williams struggled to make friends when she first moved to Blaenymaes.

But attending the Clase Family Centre has helped her meet new people and feel more at home in her local community.

“I was warned about this area. The crime and the violence and the rubbish and the broken glass – I felt a bit isolated,” she says. “But I came to the family centre and they introduced me to groups around here and I made so many friends. And they’re more like my family now.”

Faith in Families work hard to raise aspirations and increase opportunities for children living in deprived areas by providing quality childcare and learning and support facilities for the whole family.

Set up by the Brecon Diocesan Board for Social Responsibility, Faith in Families is a registered charity which runs seven family centres across Swansea.

The charity has launched three family centres in the BlaenyMaes area; the Bonymaen family centre, the Penplas Family Centre and the Clase Caemawr Family Centre.

All the centres are based in Gwalia housing association estates and primary schools.

They run a huge number of services free of charge, including parent and toddler sessions, playgroup activities, lunch clubs and days out, as well as vocational adult courses, including First Aid, food hygiene, and Welsh language classes.

Kat has been been able to learn valuable new skills at the centre, including Welsh and food hygiene.

She claims the centre has also strengthened the local sense of community.

“I think it’s important for my son. If he walks around the corner there is somebody I know who says, ‘CJ go back to mummy’, or they’ll look after him for me. It’s become a lot safer. I do trust the majority of people around here.”

Emma Williams, 29, also comes to the parent and toddler sessions with her two children.

“We get to come here and we get to speak to other mums with children on a similar age. So it’s nice to be able to see those and have people to talk to. So I suppose for our social wellbeing as well, we get to interact.”

A substantial proportion of funding for the centres from the Welsh Assembly – but austerity cuts mean their future is uncertain.

For local mothers like Kat, however, the continuation of the centres is of extreme importance.

“It’s taken me a long time to get this far but I like who I am, I like the mum who I am, and I like my friends. This is my life and I like it.”