Decorate A Child’s Life

Introduction

Decorate A Child’s Life (DACL) is The Childhood Trust’s housing support programme that redecorates disadvantaged children's bedrooms, as well as local youth clubs and community centres children rely on for support. The purpose of the programme is to provide children living in substandard accommodation with safe environments where they can learn, play, and grow.

Renovation projects are designed by The Childhood Trust’s pro bono interior design team at Katharine Pooley and completed in one day by either a group of corporate volunteers or a team of professionals from Nirvana Maintenance.

Corporate Volunteering

The DACL programme's volunteering opportunities are reserved exclusively for our corporate partners - companies that make financial contributions to our core work.

Corporate groups will spend the volunteer day painting, carrying out small repairs, and assembling flat pack furniture to give a child’s bedroom or a local youth centre a full makeover.
Redecoration projects are completed by the volunteers in one day (9.30am - 5.30pm).
Redecoration projects can accommodate groups of 4 – 10 volunteers.

Get in touch

Access Support

The DACL programme operates two different support services for families and children living in substandard accommodation:

Bedroom Redecorations

This service renovates and redecorates dilapidated bedrooms for children and young people. During redecoration projects, The Childhood Trust’s team will paint the walls of the bedroom, make small repairs, and provide brand new furniture. All equipment, materials, and furniture needed for the redecorations are sourced by the programme and delivered to the families’ homes prior to the installations. 

Furniture Provision Service

This service provides new bedroom furniture to children and families who do not have the essential items they need. Children in need of new bedroom furniture can receive the following items through the service: beds, bedding, desks, desk chairs, drawers, and wardrobes.

Referrals

For bedroom redecorations: We accept referrals from support workers, social workers, schools, and charities who are already working closely with a family. We require all referral partners to consent to support the family through this process. This includes attending a site visit with a member of our team to meet the family.

Our programme involves us bringing a team of volunteers to redecorate children’s bedrooms. We like to provide support for all children in a home when we do this. The redecoration includes:

· Painting

· New furniture

· Bedding

· Curtains / blinds

To make a referral to our Decorate a Child’s Life programme, please click here and complete the form.

Referrals FAQ

Furniture Poverty

Despite being one of Europe’s richest cities, London has the highest child poverty rate in the country and one of the highest in Western Europe. A key driver of the capital’s high poverty rate is its housing market. A two-bedroom private rental in London is over double the average rate for the rest of England. As a result, thousands of low-income families in London are unable to afford essential furniture in addition to their rent payments.

Families in furniture poverty are unable to access the basic furniture items and appliances necessary for a decent quality of life. Factors contributing to families’ experiences of furniture poverty include low-income, narrow or exclusive criteria for support from councils, and a lack of funding available from local welfare provision schemes.