Forward Outcomes Partnership

Support for vulnerable women who have experienced, or are at risk of, repeat removals of children from their care.

  • Forward Outcomes Partnership

  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

  • Plymouth City Council

  • Northamptonshire County Council

  • Worcestershire County Council

  • Derbyshire County Council

  • The National Lottery

  • Pause

  • Trevi House

  • Ripplez

  • Catch 22

  • Location

    Nationwide

  • Launch

    Apr 2019

  • Area

    Support for Vulnerable Women

Collaborators & funding partners

  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

  • Life Chances Fund

  • Plymouth City Council

  • Northamptonshire County Council

  • Worcestershire County Council

  • Derbyshire County Council

Delivery Partners

  • Pause

  • Trevi House

  • Ripplez

  • Catch 22

Team

Collaborators & funding partners

  • Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport

  • Life Chances Fund

  • Plymouth City Council

  • Northamptonshire County Council

  • Worcestershire County Council

  • Derbyshire County Council

Delivery Partners

  • Pause

  • Trevi House

  • Ripplez

  • Catch 22

  • Mila Lukic

    Founder and Chief Executive Officer

    Mila founded and leads Bridges Outcomes Partnerships (BOP). At BOP, we work to radically improve human services and environmental initiatives to improve outcomes for people and value for society. Programmes BOP supports are dedicated to empowering people across the world to improve their lives, in areas ranging from education and wellbeing to housing, child protection, employment and environmental protection. Mila is on boards of Positive Families Partnership, Stronger Families, Forward, North East Lincolnshire Thrive, Ways to Wellness, Education Outcomes Partnerships, along with other family, employment, and refugee support focused programmes.

    Mila is also a Trustee for Clore Social Leadership, organisation dedicated to providing social leaders with world class leadership development.

    Prior to Bridges, Mila’s career spanned public, private, and third sector. Mila helped create and run Education Generation, a crowdsourcing social enterprise focused on enabling young leaders in low-and middle-income countries to participate in some of the world’s most forward-thinking education programmes.

  • Iciar Ania

    Executive Director

    Iciar Ania, Executive Director at Bridges Outcomes Partnerships, has been working with Bridges for the last 6 years, during which time she has designed and implemented more than 10 Outcomes Partnerships related to:

    • Supporting care experienced young people to access employment and education opportunities,
    • Supporting young people with their mental health and wellbeing,
    • Helping families stay together through family therapy,
    • Supporting vulnerable women at risk of multiple removals and/or sexual harm and violence, and
    • Supporting unpaid carers to improve their wellbeing and sustain their caring role.

    Prior to joining Bridges Outcomes Partnerships, Iciar worked in Investment Banking at Arcano Group and Nomura Group. Iciar also spent 2 years in Cambodia working for a charity that supports families of people with physical and intellectual disabilities.

    Iciar holds a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University in the USA and from ICADE in Spain and an MBA from INSEAD.

  • Robbie Smyth

    Programme Director

    Robbie is the Programme Director for Forward Outcomes Partnerships and Plymouth Refugee Opportunities.

    Prior to joining Bridges in 2019 Robbie spent 20 years working in the third sector. Beginning his career as a Development Tutor at Fairbridge, progressing through local, regional then national Director Roles.

    Robbie holds a MA in Professional Development and is a Fellow of Clore Social Leadership.

  • Emily Hodgson

    Programme Manager

    Emily is Programme Manager for our Forward Outcomes Partnerships and Plymouth Refugee Opportunities programmes.

    Prior to this role, Emily worked in HR Management whilst completing a BSc in Psychosociology, before moving to a Data Analyst position within Bridges’ Stronger Families programme.

    Emily has recently completed an MSc in Psychology and Business with the University of Strathclyde.

Overview

The number of young people being taken into care is large and growing. In the past, there has been a lack of support for vulnerable women who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing removals of their children into care.

Focusing on increasing these women’s wellbeing will reduce the risk of more children being taken into care. Forward was created to coordinate and support the development and roll-out of a programme that works with experienced delivery partners to provide support to vulnerable women. An intense and trauma-informed programme helps these women to create a more positive future.

In Plymouth, Forward works with Trevi House, a women’s and children’s charity. In the Midlands (Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Worcestershire), Forward works with Catch 22, a social business specialised in the justice, young people and families, employability and education sectors.

Women on the Forward programme are supported to focus on themselves, increasing their wellbeing and employability, and engaging with other services whilst breaking the cycle of recurring pregnancies. With this opportunity to reflect, these women are able to tackle destructive patterns of behaviour, and to develop new skills and responses that can help them create a brighter future. The programme also prevents the damaging consequences of thousands more children being taken into care.

Forward has led to the creation of Moving on Up, a step-down service that supports vulnerable women that have previously accessed Forward’s services to sustain the positive changes they have achieved.

Delivery innovations

An outcomes partnership has enabled a much more collaborative, flexible approach to problem-solving. This has facilitated a number of significant delivery innovations, including:

  • Supplementary funding from the Household Support Fund has enabled the team to enhance delivery, better respond to emerging needs, and support those further isolated due to the cost-of-living crisis.
  • Moving on Up was co-designed via workshops and individual sessions with the women who would receive the service. As such, the service is meeting their needs and empowering them to create positive change.
  • The team is also working closely with research and learning partners to develop and implement methods that will further enable them to really listen to and learn from the women they work with.

Outcomes

Forward has supported 249 women to complete its programme of intensive support, helping them to regain control and develop new skills for a more positive future.

  • 290

    Starts to the programme

  • 249

    Women completed the programme

  • 77730

    Days without care proceedings

  • £6.7m

    Outcomes achieved

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