At a family hub in Birmingham, an excited group of under-5s are spellbound by a story time. They jump out of their tiny chairs, sing and dance along to the rhymes, and rush forwards to touch each book’s pop-up sections.
Reading Rights in Birmingham: ‘Families think books are only for rich people’
How can we better support families living in temporary accommodation to access reading support? In Birmingham, BookTrust is working with libraries and family hub partners to explore this as part of the Reading Rights campaign to make reading a universal right for all children under 7 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“Families living in temporary accommodation have come along to and taken part in a stay-and-play that’s been organised by BookTrust and the Barnardo’s family hub and children’s centre team,” says Lisa Eldret, BookTrust’s Senior Partnership Manager for Central England. “They’ve been able to take part in a BookTrust Storytime session from Birmingham Libraries, and we’ve been gifting BookTrust programme resources.”
Out on the table is a colourful spread of high-quality, expertly selected picture books from BookTrust that children can choose from to take home. Fetilework’s two-year-old daughter has picked up the one she wants. “It’s going to be fun for her,” she says. “When she starts school, I won’t need to say: ‘read a book’. Because once she has that interest, she will do it by herself.”
Rukayat has walked more than an hour from where she lives to with her two children (aged two and four) to come along today. “I really enjoyed the story times today, because during them, I could see how my children were smiling and dancing,” she says. “I do that at home with them, dancing. That means a lot to me: for them to be happy.”
Families interacting with a BookTrust Storytime book during the story time
In the City of Birmingham, the number of families living in temporary accommodation is increasing fourteen times faster than the national average. A key priority for the council is outreach and support for these families, who often face the greatest barriers to accessing reading and all its benefits.
Families living in temporary accommodation are often navigating immediate pressures, such as housing insecurity, safeguarding concerns, resettlement, and disrupted routines, which can make reading support feel less urgent.
But with shared reading from a child’s earliest days playing a vital role in family relationships, development and future opportunities, BookTrust and local partners worked with family hubs and libraries in Birmingham to identify ways to boost family engagement and help to overcome barriers to accessing reading support.
These include consistent outreach from trusted workers, offering families book selection and ownership, providing dual-language books, convening a multi-disciplinary network of practitioners; and offering interactive, flexible group storytelling experiences, and events to support outreach with families.
Azra Bashir from Barnardo’s telling families about support at the local library
This project between BookTrust and the City of Birmingham is part of BookTrust’s Reading Rights campaign, led by former Waterstones Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, to ensure being read to from birth is not an invisible privilege, but a universal right for all children under 7 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. BookTrust is co-creating adaptable, sustainable solutions with local partners that ensure every child, regardless of circumstance, can experience the joy and benefits of reading.
BookTrust’s Lisa Eldret says: “Activities have been taking place at temporary accommodation sites where families live – many of these through relationships built through outreach work from Azra Bashir, (Home Learning Environment Project Worker, Barnardo’s) – and at family hubs. Families are also being encouraged and supported by Azra to visit BookTrust Storytime sessions at libraries in Birmingham.”
Strengthening relationships: family hubs and libraries
Linda Monk from Birmingham Libraries delivering a story time
“Many of the families have never been into the family hub before,” says Lisa. “Today gave them the opportunity to see what’s available for them in their community and access the services available through the family hubs network, so they can come back and take part again.”
“Azra has been going to temporary accommodation sites, building relationships with families and then encouraging and supporting them to come along to libraries.”
Fetilework says: “Azra first came to my property when my daughter was six months old. I didn’t have any idea there were free activities [like this]. I know about them because of Azra.”
At the end of the stay-and-play session, while children enjoy a healthy snack, Azra tells families about what’s available for free at their local library, and where they can find it.
Reflecting afterwards, she says: “It’s all good saying to a family: ‘you should read to your child’ but if they haven’t got a book, where do they go? It’s about making sure families are confident, and they know they can have access to books.
“One of the barriers is knowing where the libraries are. A lot of families living in temporary accommodation do not speak English. It’s about overcoming language barriers, knowing what the word for ‘library’ is in their language, for example. And making them aware of where their local library is.”
“One parent here today has four young children. Before she left, she said she would like me to take her to the library, even if that’s just walking her there, so she’ll be able to access it again and again herself.”
Azra Bashir, Home Learning Environment Project Worker for Barnardo’s
Linda Monk, Library Service Manager for the Library of Birmingham, delivered the storytime at today’s stay- and-play. She says: “I’ve worked in the library service for 30 years and I must admit, I really did not know much about families living in temporary accommodation.
“This project has helped us reconnect with children’s centres and family hubs, and gain a better understanding of the work they carry out. This partnership – and this kind of day – has also given us a really good opportunity to work with local families who would really benefit from, for example, using the dual language picture books we get from BookTrust.
“Having children, young people and families become more confident in stepping inside a library in Birmingham, getting access to those books, expanding their minds, imaginations, and creativity, that can only be good.”
More than 1,400 children living in temporary accommodation were supported with BookTrust books and resources during this project
The importance of outreach: ‘Families think books are only for rich people’
Azra Bashir says: “Barriers will be there, but it’s upon us to go and find a solution. Families living in temporary accommodation feel very unsafe and are going through so much. Some have arrived from abroad, some are fleeing domestic violence. It can feel safest to stay within their own four walls.
“I’ll knock on their doors, and just have conversations with them. These are families whose cortisol levels are so high. It’s about having that gentle approach to say: ‘Everything’s fine. You’re doing a fantastic job as a parent, let’s just help. How can I help you?’
“Having the BookTrust books – some of them in the families’ own languages – gave me a great opportunity to engage. I took some books and I literally went from door to door, knocking on front doors. It’s about building those relationships and befriending people. I’m there to help them and reassure them.
Gifting the Bookstart Toddler books and resources to a family
“I’ve had conversations with families who thought books were only for the ‘elite’ or for rich people. To be able to say: ‘This is book pack is for you and your children,’ is amazing.”
All the families BookTrust spoke to during the project’s evaluation agreed their child enjoyed using the resources, and that they helped them spend more quality time with their child
Single-parent Rukayat is due to start university in September and aspires to become a nurse. “During a difficult time, Azra helped me, she came and knocked on my door, and I’m really, really grateful to have had her around me at that time,” she says. “She’s amazing.”
“Azra told us about reading. My children and I like reading out of the book that she gave to us. We sit together and I read it to them. And now, my daughter, she’s four, she can join three to four letter words together. I’m proud of myself now, because she can read two to three letter words together.”
“Whenever Azra asked me to come here, she would give me another book, tell me a lot of things that I didn’t know. She made me love reading.”
Rukayat, parent
Lisa Eldret says: “BookTrust’s local partners face specific challenges in engaging families who live in temporary accommodation. This project is a fantastic opportunity for BookTrust to learn how we can support them to reach every child whilst incorporating our evidence-based programmes into services that already exist, and to support the outreach work partners are already doing through children’s centres family hubs and libraries.
“It’s also about learning what we can take forwards from this project and to adapt our ways of working across different communities.”
Azra adds: “To go into temporary accommodation sites week after week and see families’ confidence building, and to say: ‘See you at the story time session’ and then for that to actually happen, it’s overwhelming, and an honour to be part of.
“It’s a huge project. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Every child deserves to have a childhood. No matter where they live, where they sleep at night. To be able to access a book makes such a difference: in their development and their future relationship with books. It makes a difference for the rest of their life.”