A Contemporary of Booth
The Ladies Fellowship enjoyed a very informative talk by David Waller, Chief Executive of Fegans, a Christian charity whose vision is for a society in which every child knows they are loved and valued and which believes that this can only happen through the transforming love and power of Christ.
Founder, James Fegan
David spoke about James Fegan, the founder who began the work in London in the late 19th century at about the same time as William Booth started The Salvation Army. Fegan was moved by the plight of destitute boys and eventually founded the society and opened the first of many children’s homes. Although all the homes have now closed because of government legislation relating to the way in which children and families are supported, Fegans has adapted to provide many services for families where needs are identified and also where communities experience problems.
Their are now five aspect to the work of the charity.
Parents+
Parents+ provides parenting programmes aiming to empower parents as they cope with the difficulties of experience such as drug and alcohol abuse, bereavement, teenager and mental health problems. These programmes are run in conjunction with other community support agencies such as churches and schools as well as individual families.
Schools+
Fegans are often invited to work in partnership with schools, churches and other local agencies to nurture emotional development and Christian beliefs. This helps children to build self esteem and individual counselling can be given in a secure environment for the child.
Counselling+
Families often experience times of emotional stress for various reasons and, following Christ’s example, coming alongside people is the approach taken to help their families and children. Although Fegans have to charge for this service no one is turned away. All counsellors are Christian and professionally trained.
Community+
This is the area where Fegans recognises that it is the whole community that helps to raise a child and so they organize family fun events, drop-in sessions, youth work, parent and toddler groups and pre-school activities. Again they work with other agencies in the community.
Training+
Fegans works with other organisations to provide training in all areas of support for families and children up to 18 years. Courses are run within churches, schools and other counselling services. This work has extended to Uganda where it has senior staff working with schools and parents to address issues such as the importance of education, child abuse and other difficult experiences seen in the lives of Ugandan families.
This was an interesting and informative evening. Fegans is not such a well known charity and its UK work is really only based in the south east of England, its administrative centre being in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. For further information click here