The release of the latest data on the number of households and children affected by the two-child limit last week lays bare the stark reality and impact of this policy, and why anyone concerned about the number of children living in poverty is advocating for its removal.

Since 2017, the two-child limit has meant that almost all families having a third or subsequent child – both in and out of work – are no longer entitled to receive support for those children through Universal Credit. This sees younger children missing out on up to £68 per week in support that their older siblings receive.

Let’s take a look at what the Government’s own data tells us…

As of April 2025, 19,580 North East families were hit by the two-child limit.

• 59% are single parent families (and with nine in ten single parent households headed by women, this disproportionately and significantly impacts women)

• 47% are families with at least one adult or child with a disability or health condition

• 68% have a youngest child aged under five

• 52% are working families (with at least one parent/carer in work)

Not only that, but the data also sets out the reasons why a small number of families have been agreed as exceptions – we learn 170 women across the North East have had to formally declare that they had been the victim of rape in order to receive an exemption from this cruel policy.

So, this one policy alone:

• Is placing more and more children into poverty, an estimated 109 every day nationally;

• Has the biggest impact on women in single parent families, already struggling to make ends meet;

• Directly impacts the lives of families with a child or adult with a disability, where we already know families are struggling with the impact of welfare reforms or getting the right support for children in school;

• Is directly impacting on the very children (those under 5) the Government is seeks to improve the quality of life of through its ‘Best Start’ approach also published last week;

• Is directly impacting on the working families the Government is also targeting to make access to childcare easier and more affordable.

Not only is the policy morally wrong, it’s in direct contradiction to what the Government is trying to achieve.

It’s making things worse. It’s wrong on every level.

One year on from the Government pledging to publish a child poverty strategy and address the absence of any national leadership, they are failing to do the one thing which would have the biggest impact and which would lift around 350,000 out of poverty overnight.

So, yes, we welcome the commitment to a national strategy and to taking action. But we know the delay until the Autumn just means more children and families will experience the debilitating impact of poverty between now and then.

Yes, we welcome the recent announcement of widening the eligibility for free school meals, but this is also a year away, with more and more families pulled unnecessarily into poverty before then.

Yes, we look forward to the commitment from the North East Combined Authority to tackling these issues locally, the first Combined Authority to do so.

But until the two-child limit is removed, we run the risk of further delay, further warm words, further plans being of little comfort to families in crisis and more children born into poverty.

It’s the opposite of the best start in life and they deserve better from us all.

A massive well done to Chris Fitzpatrick for completing his two-mile open water swim at Windermere’s Great North Swim!

The Great North Swim is the UK’s largest open water swim event, with thousands of participants tackling distances from 250m to 10km, in water temperatures as low as 14 ⁰C.

Back in January 2024, Chris struggled to swim a single length of a pool. This was when he decided to embark on a personal fitness journey. He experienced highs and lows along the way and despite doubts, he remained determined to push his limits and transform his health for the better.

From the beginning of 2025, Chris started challenging himself even more to prepare for the Great North Swim. Since then, he has swum 91 miles, cycled 902 miles, ran 100 miles and walked 231 miles.

That’s an astonishing total of 1,324 miles in just six months!

The big day approached on 15^th June, and Chris powered through the two-miles in an impressive 1 hour and 18 minutes, placing 10^th in his age and gender category!

Not only has Chris inspired us with his strength, grit, and determination, he has also raised £917 for our charity, and another £650 for the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund – a testament to his generosity and drive to make a massive difference.

These incredible efforts will go a long way to helping transform the lives of babies, children and young people across the North East and help us to provide life-changing services.

Thank you and congratulations Chris! We hope you’re as proud of yourself as we are of you – your resilience continues to amaze us and prove that transformation is possible in all walks of life.

We’re incredibly proud of you and can’t wait to see what you take on next!

“This place is amazing”.

Our Cowgate Community Hub is a place where families can come together, hosting groups for infants and toddlers, youth groups for children and teenagers and a community space to make services accessible to all. Over the years, we’ve seen hundreds of families come through our doors and be met by our dedicated staff. One family who came to us initially only visited to access one of the health services hosted on site but had such a warm welcome after a difficult period, they stayed and found a safe space and sense of community.

Adam* and his family were first introduced to Children North East by accessing Cowgate Community Hub for health visitor drop ins, as their youngest infant needed extra care to support his early development but found a place that offered so much more to the for local families.

“They learnt our names and would just have chats with us while they were working, telling us about all the activities they ran and giving us timetables to take away. Afterwards everything just fell into place.”

At first, Adam was unsure about joining the groups “[My partner and I] weren’t sure it was for us, we were worried about being judged or feeling out of place”; but after one session of music and dance session ‘Boogie Bairns’ they were hooked. “It was so fun, I was able to let loose. Think I had more fun than the kids and I liked it was in a hall with other people, you don’t feel self-conscious because everyone’s doing it and I love being playful and energetic with the kids”. Now the family are regulars, with the children attended a nearby nursery, they visit us a few times a week for breakfast or lunch at Cafe Hope, “the staff all know us really well, remember our regular orders and take menu suggestions”.

Before coming to Cowgate, Adam and his family felt quite isolated having relocated and having no family in the area, but now they are getting know some of the other families in the area, “the staff helped start it, they had me read a book out loud to the Stay & Play and asked us where we were from to start the conversation”. Talking about his experience of becoming a dad and having social services involved, Adam said, “I was so excited each time, I was telling everyone and really wanted to be involved in everything right from the start”. However, he faced some challenges. “I was encouraged to go to all the doctor’s’ appointments and scans, but subconsciously I distanced myself. I was worried I’d say the wrong thing or be taken the wrong way. I was really upfront from the start and that helped because then they would address both of us. There was a lot of support to encourage me to enjoy it and go through it with my partner.” This gave Adam the confidence to advocate for his family and speak up during appointments, to make sure he could properly support his partner; “it’s a lot of pressure to put on one person [Mum], I’d always say ‘tell me’, because I’m not going through all the body changes, nausea, hormone changes and I can help her”. It’s common for men to feel left out and excluded from the pregnancy as they are not prioritised as an equal partner, which in turn puts a lot of pressure on the pregnant person. Current UK paternity leave mandates two antenatal appointments for a partner to attend, however the pregnant person attends on average 10 appointments during their pregnancy.

Through his own personal journey with counselling and mindfulness, prior to engaging with Children North East, Adam felt he was better able to connect with his family and be more open about how he was feeling, “I’m human, I get sad, I get happy… I think for a lot of men they internalise and don’t know how to express it”. Sharing little moments of joy helped him to recognise how far they had all come, “[Since leaving social care support] we’re in such a good place, all of us … the older one helped feed his brother dinner last night and gets his juice bottle for him … there’s a whole list of words he’s saying now”. Adam has found with his peers it can be hard to find a connection or open a casual conversation about their kids, “Guys just don’t talk about that stuff”, but he wanted to encourage other men to try. “I think Dads have a lot of internalised pressure of ‘I have to work, I have to provide’ and it doesn’t come from their partner, it comes from them.”

Adam praised the staff for their spontaneous acts of kindness, recalling, “We were having lunch when one of the team offered to take a family photo, saying we probably didn’t have many like that.” In the midst of the chaos that often defines family life, gestures like this can mean a great deal. Giving parents the chance to pause and preserve a special moment helps them feel seen and valued. It’s these small yet thoughtful actions that foster a sense of belonging – laying the groundwork for strong, supportive family connections. Even this small moment from our team made Adam feel valued and recognised at Cowgate.

Adam has now entered the Volunteer programme with Children North East, “they recognise the potential and encourage you to develop your skills”, and one of his goals is to set up a Men’s Group to encourage more men to come to Cowgate in the hope they’ll have as good an experience as he and his family have had. “I’d like to set up a Pie Club or something similar, then maybe once a month the kids could come too but it would give guys a chance to have a chat without feeling judged or watched.”

We are very proud of the safe, welcoming space our team have built at Cowgate Community Hub and the range of services they offer to support the mix of families we welcome through the doors. As Adam looks forward to the future, we’re excited to see where he takes his ideas for more men’s support in the area and know he’ll be a great addition to the team.

If you would like to know more about what we do at Cowgate, email [email protected] or check out this page

Last year was very special year for the long-standing relationship between Children North East and Rotary Ponteland, which saw the latter turn their vision of helping children and families across our region into a Charity of the Year partnership that changed lives within local communities.

With a wonderful 60-year history of supporting charities, members of Rotary Ponteland set about planning an exciting calendar of activities that would raise funds and awareness for Children North East and its services.

Fundraising Events

Rotary Ponteland organised events that rallied support within the local community. Each event was a chance to bring people together for a fun time whilst generating funds. These events included naming us as their charity partner for the iconic Ponteland Duck Race, delivering a range of Christmas events, including Santa Sleigh runs, Disco and a Christmas Market, and collections at different locations over the year, such as supermarkets and events

The Fundraising Team joined with Rotary for some of these events, sharing stories from our services and bringing branded materials. We were on hand to provide support, such as creating marketing materials, promote their events and cheerlead them on the way.

Raising Awareness

Rotary Ponteland didn’t just stop at fundraising. They gave the charity the chance to join them at a range of events to help grow awareness of the charity within new communities, joining them at promotional stalls in community venues, including an Over 50’s Jobs Fair organized by the then MP Guy Oppermann in Ponteland. They also shouted about their partnership in their newsletters and on their web site and Facebook pages. On the charities side, celebrating their hard work fundraising with cheque presentations were shared on our social media, helping spread the word about how to support us.

The Partnerships Impact

In 2023, Rotary Ponteland raised an incredible £6,100, enough to support 60 families to access a year of support through our Community Hub. We also spoke to hundreds of new people about our cause, with their comms reaching many, many more.

We can’t thank the members of Rotary Ponteland enough for their incredible support during 2023 and our long history together. Thanks to their hard work and motivation, many young lives will benefit.

“The commitment of Rotary Ponteland to supporting our charity has helped us provide crucial support during a difficult times for many families. The team were inspired by the way they creatively found ways to help our work, both fundraising and connecting us to their communities. We loved working with them!” Billie Jenkins, Communications and Fundraising Manager.

“It was a real pleasure working with the Team at Children North East throughout the year over a number of events and it gave us a real insight into the amazing work that they do in our region to support children and young families.” John Cooper, President at Rotary Ponteland.

We hope this partnership inspires other groups to get involved, whether through fundraising, volunteering or simply spreading the word. Together, we won’t stop until every baby, child and young person has a happy, healthy start in life.

Unheard Voices is a podcast recorded by our Young Ambassadors at Northumberland College, where young people share their thoughts and views on how those experiencing poverty are affected by everyday life.

We believe that in order for us to properly advocate for change for babies, children and young people we must listen to their voices and understand what life is like for them and they barriers they face to growing up happy and healthy. Through our Poverty Proofing work, we strive to do this with our Young Ambassadors who provide valuable insights in to being a young person today. Partnering with Northumberland College, our team have worked closely with 20 young people, each with their own experiences and stories to tell, to understand how they can be supported. These young people have been truly incredible, showing a real dedication for advocating for their generation and a willingness to open up about their struggles and what they’ve seen on a first-hand basis. Over the months, we’ve discussed how poverty can affect a person’s learning opportunities, life experiences, their feeling of belonging and mental health. Our Young Ambassadors have taken this on and explored what schools and colleges can do to support children experiencing poverty.

From our work, it was clear that the voices of these young people would be invaluable to those wanting to make changes to their settings, and that they wanted to share their views to help others. They proposed we record and release a podcast session, meaning they could openly and informally discuss their thoughts. Three speakers were nominated, and with our Poverty Proofing Support Worker, Unheard Voices was released!

If you’re interested in working with our Poverty Proofing team in your setting, contact us on [email protected] or visit our page to find out more.

Thank you to J, a brave mam who has shared her story to empower others to do the same and address their own mental health struggles both during and after pregnancy.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the bravest thing you can ever do is ask for help, that was never more true for me than when I was navigating pregnancy after loss.

Having lost my first child due to a missed miscarriage, falling pregnant with my second child only a few months later was the most terrifying time. I spent the weeks from my positive pregnancy test on the run up to my first appointment overanalysing every symptom, paying for private scans every week and in a constant state of fear.

I already felt like there was a lack of support available for me as I had “only experienced one loss” I didn’t fit the criteria for perinatal mental health support via my local NHS hospital’s rainbow clinic. On reflection looking back now, I felt I had no choice but to be honest and tell my health visitor how much I was struggling – the crippling anxiety was written all over my face.

When my health visitor suggested she make a referral for me to engage with Little Minds in Mind, I was sceptical if I was able to be helped but had nothing to lose, I couldn’t possibly feel worse than I already did.

Throughout my whole pregnancy I was petrified to bond with my baby in fear of another loss, I felt like I wasn’t ‘normal’ and worried what would happen if my baby was born healthy but I still didn’t feel that connection. I completely shut down and isolated myself from friends and family. Though I was able to share some of my thoughts with my husband, I kept a lot to myself as I felt so guilty for ruining his experience of what should have been an exciting time.

Within minutes of meeting Sarah from Little Minds in Mind I knew I’d made the right decision in speaking out and seeking support.

There was no topic that was ‘too much’ or taboo, I could talk openly and brutally honestly about the guilt, shame and fear I was experiencing knowing that Sarah would listen and not judge. She made me feel heard, she understood, and respected my grief and why I was feeling the way that I was. Through our visits and regular phone check ins, she made me think of things from a completely different perspective – the fact that I was so scared to lose my baby was in itself my own way of bonding and protecting them. She made me realise that I already had those maternal instincts and was doing all I could to look after my baby by being brave enough to ask for help and seek support.

Things that would seem trivial to most like managing to finally buy nappies at the end of the third trimester and saying ‘we’ instead of ‘I’ when referring to myself and my baby towards the end of my pregnancy, I really do feel were possible due to Sarah empowering me and building up my confidence. She celebrated each win with me and comforted me during the lows. She also offered advice and signposting to both me and my husband regarding what support would be available postnatally should I feel I need it. Knowing there was a safety net available and how to access it was a great comfort.

There was no magic wand or quick fix, my mental health was poor throughout my whole pregnancy but with Little Minds in Minds help and support I was better able to cope. When my son was born safely, the first time I looked at him I said to my husband “he’s real, he’s perfect.” I was so excited to introduce Sarah to him as she played such a huge role in his safe arrival and my journey to motherhood.

My husband and I are forever thankful to Sarah and Little Minds in Mind.

*Names have been changed to protect individual’s identities.