REFER A CHILD TO OUR PROJECTS

Free to Be Kids supports children who are particularly struggling at home, in school or in their relationships with others. Each child begins their journey with us by attending a 5−day residential project. Here, supported by our caring, fun volunteers, they meet animals at the farm, build dens in the woods, cook together and camp under the stars. The projects open up a sense of adventure, freedom and possibility, translating to improvements in confidence, ability to get on with others and richer mental health.

Feedback from schools shows every year that the opportunities we provide translate into observable improvements in confidence and self-belief in the classroom, and that this is still the case when measured at the end of the term after children have attended.

Children can be referred to return year on year for as long as they need us, and those with the highest needs can be referred to access follow on support through:

One to one mentoring

The Journey Programme

Young Leaders’ Programme

ALL CHILDREN REFERRED TO FREE TO BE KIDS MUST:

  • Live in Greater London
  • Be between the ages of 8 and 12 on the start date of the initial project they are attending
  • Be able to understand simple instructions in English
  • Be able to wash, dress and use the toilet independently

  • Not require significant physical intervention on a regular basis in order to keep them safe

Free To Be Kids

WATCH OUR VIDEO TO SEE WHAT THE PROJECTS INVOLVE

“We really trust Free to Be Kids – they are always so thorough and organised and so it feels really safe to send our vulnerable children to them. The feedback from every child and their parents is always amazing. Every child who goes away wants to go again and again and again.”

Deputy Head Teacher

“We value Free to Be Kids’ excellent communication following our referrals and have been incredibly impressed with the reports back that we receive for each child that attends. We notice a real change in confidence when children return from the trips.”

SENCO

“The children beam when they talk about Free to Be Kids – you can literally see their faces light up when they recall what they did on the trip. The chance to get away from everything, try new things and be out in the countryside will be a very significant memory for these children as they get older.”

School Inclusion Manager

HOW TO MAKE A REFERRAL:

Children should generally be referred to Free to Be Kids by a teacher, social worker or other professional working with the family. If you are a parent or carer, please ask your child’s school or another support agency working with your family to make the referral, where possible (if this is not possible, please contact us).

Free to Be Kids projects are offered completely free of charge to families, with children being picked up and dropped back to their home address. We ask that referring organisations contribute a subsidised amount towards the cost of the trip to reduce our fundraising burden. This amount varies each season, depending on the grant funding we are able to secure, but is roughly a quarter to a third of the full cost of the child’s trip. The current referrer contribution can be found on the front page of the Referral Form.

Our projects are always over-subscribed and we prioritise places for children with the highest levels of need. For the child you refer to have the best possible chance of being selected, it is vital that you provide as much detail as possible about why they are in need of our support within the referral form. Whilst we do not have set referral criteria, you must demonstrate that the child is dealing with disadvantage, trauma or other adversities, which are impacting on their standard of living and emotional wellbeing. The more detail you provide, the better.

To make a referral for our forthcoming projects, please click the button below to be transferred to our electronic referral form. The deadline for referrals is detailed on the front page of the referral form. If you have any questions that aren’t answered on the form or would like to speak to a member of our team, please email:
referrals@freetobekids.org.uk

RESOURCES

Download our information leaflet for referrers >

FAQs

Schools tend to use their inclusion budget or pupil premium to cover the cost of projects for children they are particularly concerned about.

If you are a small, grassroots organisation and you are really struggling to find the funding for a child in desperate need of support, please do let us know and make a referral anyway – we may be able to find other sources of funding to cover costs in a small number of cases.

Once the referral window closes, our team will consider all the forms and allocate places across the projects. We prioritise those which demonstrate the highest levels of need, whilst also factoring in some practical considerations, such as having a relatively equal spread of ages and genders on each project and making sure our minibus pick-up routes make logistical sense.

After the places have been allocated we will email you with a breakdown of the children you have referred and which ones we have been able to offer a place to. Where we have offered a place, we’ll also provide you with the project dates. For any children who have not been allocated a place first time round, there is an option to add them to our Reserve List.

We will contact the primary carer of all children who have been offered a place, both by email and letter. You’ll be cc’d into the email so that you have all details too. The invite letter will include details of the practical arrangements, contact numbers to speak to our team and a link to the child’s online consent form, which must be completed by the deadline specified. We’d appreciate your support in helping parents/carers to do this. In the run up to the project, usually 3-4 days beforehand, the Project Coordinator will ring the child’s parent/carer to answer any questions and double check key details.

Following the child’s project, we will be in touch with you to report back on their experiences whilst with us and invoice you for any referrer contributions.

Absolutely! Many organisations refer 6 or 7 children to us and there is space within the referral form to specify if you have any preferences on the priorities of different children, which we will aim to take into account when allocating.

Please try, where possible, to send a spread of ages and a mix of boys and girls when referring multiple children.

Of course! There is space within the referral form for you to provide the names of siblings who you have also referred, and you can specify whether it would be best to keep them on the same project together or split them onto different sets of dates.

We’re sorry that we can’t offer places to every child referred. If a child you refer is suitable for the projects but has not been prioritised for a place, they can be added to the Reserve List. A small number of places tend to become available in the run up to projects, due to children dropping out and, when this happens, we’ll offer the space to a child on the Reserve List. This can happen at any point between the initial allocations email and the day of the project itself, so it can mean that families receive quite a last-minute call from us and we know that this can be anxiety provoking for some parents/carers. Where this uncertainty feels too much, referrers or families are more than welcome to decline the offer of being on the Reserve List. We will provide further information about the Reserve List to referrers when needed, which you can pass onto families.

We welcome re-applications for children who aren’t successful in getting a place on one of our projects first time round.

Following a child’s project with Free to Be Kids, their Project Coordinators will make some recommendations on whether they would benefit from ongoing work with Free to Be Kids and which programme would be the best fit for them. We compare these recommendations on an annual basis, so as to prioritise those children with the highest need levels. After we have done this, we’ll make contact with you to let you know our thoughts.