Childhood Incontinence in the BME communities
Written by admin on Thursday, June 14, 2007 10:33
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Constance Briscoe, pioneering black female judge (p-t) and a patron of ERIC said: 'the trouble with bedwetting is that it scars your childhood and makes you feel quite unworthy. I was conscious that I was different from my brothers and sisters. I prayed most nights for a miracle to stop me wetting the bed.'
ERIC, the national charity providing information and support on childhood bedwetting, daytime wetting, constipation and soiling, is working to extend its reach within black and minority ethnic (BME) communities.
Any child can be affected by a continence problem, and it is estimated that around 1 in 12 in the UK are, but it has become apparent that ERIC is not being accessed proportionately by BME groups.
Childhood continence problems are a surprisingly widespread, under-reported and misunderstood problem within British society generally. Furthermore, there are a number of associated issues that families often have to contend with. Children experiencing these problems often encounter bullying and social stigma, and parents can also find these issues difficult to talk about. If a child has a continence problem, the family may find themselves increasingly socially isolated.
It may surprise people to learn that the average cost to parents of a child with a continence problem is around £30 per week. These expenses will obviously hit low income families hardest, but they, like black and minority ethnic families, are often those least likely to be accessing the range of services that ERIC provides.
It has emerged from monitoring forms sent out to callers that ERIC is not being accessed proportionately by black and minority ethnic groups. It is with this in mind that ERIC is working to extend its reach in a number of key ways. As well as national moves to engage with BME support organisations and media, it is running a Big Lottery Fund outreach project in parts of the south west (soon to be expanded nationally), with a view to supporting under-represented groups more directly, and finding out from them what their information and support needs are in order to make positive changes for the future.
ERIC has also produced an information sheet in six different languages which can be downloaded here, by clicking on the relevant language: Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Somali, and Punjabi . ERIC is also working with Language Line to provide translation for callers speaking different languages in the hope that this will help attract more people from BME communities to ERIC.
You can find out more by emailing Steve Crump at stephen@eric.org.uk, or calling 0117 301 2107 (Monday-Wednesday). Alternatively you can contact Bonny Brooks on 0117 9603060, or email bonny@eric.org.uk.
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