Fri, Jan 01, 2021

Childhood food insecurity (Birmingham UK)

Interviews were conducted with parents, carers/guardians of school aged children and experts in the field to uncover the impact of food insecurity on children and the availability of out-of-school services in Birmingham. This research took place during the spring of 2020 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and was commissioned by the University of Birmingham.
by Miss Gazala Aslam & Dr Barbara Hagger

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What we did

Equanimity Education CIC was commissioned by the University of Birmingham to research the impact of food poverty/insecurity on children and to look at the availability of out-of-school services for families in need. The information was gathered in the Spring of 2020.

How we did it

Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents, carers/guardians of school aged children and experts in the field in the Birmingham area. Questions were asked about a) community services that are supporting local families in need, b) the strategies families are using to help feed their children, and c) what further support is needed.

What we found

We identified five aspects that together may well impact on the future of those children and families affected: 1) lack of official support and access to benefits, 2) lack of food, 3) lack of domestic skills, 4) impact of living environment and 5) a need for information about services in an accessible format.