Teenagers with severe learning difficulties can be receiving the care of children’s services one day, but the next - the day they turn 18 - they are “booted out” and effectively made homeless.

Today we look at Molly’s Project, a charity initiative set up in the North East to address this “weird hole in the system where people just fall through”.

Simon Rushworth talks to Jeremy Middleton about why his Foundation began the project and to mother Karen Wood whose daughter has been helped by Molly’s Project. “Many marriages don’t survive the situation we found ourselves in. Many families simply fall apart. I wasn’t going to let that happen to us.”

We also feature a woman who devoted much of her life to the campaign for women’s employment rights and stood as a candidate in the Makerfield by-election - 100 years ago.

Rachel Parsons, daughter of steam turbine inventor Sir Charles Parsons, founded the Woman’s Engineering Society with her mother Katharine in 1919 and was in the vanguard of a largely unacknowledged ‘wave’ of feminism in the 1920s.

Writer Henrietta Heald tells her fascinating story - did you know that the women who worked in the munitions factories during the war were not only told to go back to the home when it ended but a law was introduced to ban most of them from working in industry?

First, some Eyes & Ears extras. The words Brexit, European funding, Andy Burnham, data centres, urban regeneration, end of an era and TV dragon will get a mention.

Less for us

The North East suffered a “significant fall” in funding to support regeneration, jobs and training when European Union money was replaced by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) after Brexit, according to new analysis.

Dr Nick Gray, of Teesside University, said the UKSPF paid out an average of £77m a year to the region between 2022 and 2026, a fall of roughly 31% in cash terms compared to its EU equivalent. The decline was more dramatic if inflation was taken into account, Dr Gray told the BBC’s Luke Walton.

Mayor backs Burnham

North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said she would support Andy Burnham if he decided to challenge for the leadership of the Labour Party - a view she shared before the weekend’s talk of him stepping aside.

“I don’t think the current regime or Keir Starmer has had, at times, a fair press,” she said. “There have been huge strides forward on tackling poverty, on increasing the minimum wage, on renters’ rights, workers’ rights, and I could go on… record transport settlements in places like ours. But people have not felt the change they wanted to see quick enough. I just don’t think he will be accepted by the British people for very much longer.”

Second data centre planned

Plans have been submitted for a second AI data centre in Northumberland. The proposed site is agricultural land at West Sleekburn, less than two miles from the former Blyth Power Station at Cambois where the QTS data centre is being built. Wansbeck Regeneration Ltd is seeking outline planning permission.

Trailblazing town

Saturday saw the opening of Stockton Waterfront urban park which reconnects the High Street to the River Tees. Visitors can now head down to the riverside via the curved granite steps which also form an amphitheatre and performance area - or they can whizz down a 15ft slide instead.

Knocking down one side of the high street was a pretty radical move by the council. “We’re trailblazers and its about showing what is possible,” said deputy leader Paul Rowling. The council hopes the waterfront will bring events, new business and much-needed footfall.

Final look

More than 60 years after opening, Durham’s County Hall is preparing to close its doors — and a special exhibition this week will mark the end of an era.

The exhibition, taking place on Friday from 9am to 4pm, will look back at the history of county council’s headquarters through photographs, original architectural drawings, archive footage and personal memories. Staff will leave the building in August ahead of its demolition

Crafty moves

Gemstone entrepreneur Steve Bennett has taken a stake in Crafter’s Companion, the Newton Aycliffe business founded by TV dragon Sara Davies. It has also been confirmed that Gemporia, a UK-based jewellery and craft-focused retail business, is now in partnership with Crafter’s Companion.

Tell me why

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A bygone by-election

Writer HENRIETTA HEALD looks at the Makerfield by-election. No, not that one - the one from 100 years ago featuring a woman in the vanguard of a largely unacknowledged ‘wave’ of feminism in the 1920s.

As Andy Burnham basks in the glory of his victory in the Makerfield by-election, he may like to reflect on a political battle that took place in the constituency a century ago - one that concerned the daughter of North East engineering giant Sir Charles Parsons, inventor of the steam turbine.

A towering figure in this story is Stephen Walsh, Labour MP for Ince (as the constituency was then called, before boundary changes) from 1906 until his death in 1929. He entered Parliament in the same year that the Labour Party became the Labour Party, changing its name from the Labour Representation Committee, with Keir Hardie as leader.

In 1863, three-year-old Stephen Walsh had been found by a policeman wandering the streets of Liverpool, a homeless orphan. At the age of 10, he began work in the Wigan coalfield. From this unpropitious start, Walsh – an articulate and charismatic self-taught man – would go on to become a leading light in both the National Union of Mineworkers and the Labour Party, eventually serving as deputy leader of both organisations and, later, as Secretary of State for War. An obituary in the New York Times described him as ‘a gold mine of humor’ and ‘the idol of Lancashire for a generation’.

Over the course of 23 years, Walsh secured the Ince seat for Labour in seven successive general elections. In the election of December 1923, called by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin – leader of the ruling, but deeply divided, Conservative Party – Walsh’s opponent was, of all things, a woman. In the event, the national vote would lead to the first Labour government, a minority administration under Ramsay Macdonald.

The woman chosen by the Conservatives to stand against Walsh in Ince in 1923 was Rachel Parsons, the founding president of the Women’s Engineering Society. It was just five years since women had first been allowed to take part in parliamentary elections, and there were only three sitting female MPs, all elected in seats vacated by their husbands: Nancy Astor and Mabel Philipson for the Conservatives, and Margaret Wintringham for the Liberals.

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Plugging a ‘weird hole in the system’

For the parents of young people with severe learning difficulties who are approaching adulthood, securing long-term, stable accommodation is an all-consuming challenge that can be distressing and demoralising in equal measure. SIMON RUSHWORTH discovered a charity enabling positive change, one forever home at a time.

Hamish and Karen Wood with daughter Megan

Karen Wood takes a deep breath before revealing the torturous truth she and her family faced as younger daughter Megan approached her 16^th birthday. “I thought ‘we’re not going to make it’,” she confesses. “I honestly felt that my husband and I wouldn’t live to 50 if things didn’t change.”

Megan, diagnosed with severe learning difficulties and requiring round-the-clock care, had always lived with her parents in a loving and stable family home. However, as she approached adulthood, it became increasingly clear that the status quo was no longer a safe or viable option.

“I never thought Megan would live independently from us,” admits Karen. “I always assumed she would be at home with us. Always. Megan moving out is not something that had ever crossed our minds but, when she was 15, I suddenly panicked and pressed an internal emergency button. I somehow knew we needed more help than we were getting.”

What followed was a three-year rollercoaster of emotions as the Woods endured regular upheavals, frequent setbacks and numerous crises of confidence. At the same time, Karen and her family gained an invaluable insight into the chaos caused by the failure of social housing’s key stakeholders to collaborate and share key information.

“Many marriages don’t survive the situation we found ourselves in,” says Karen. “Many families simply fall apart. I wasn’t going to let that happen to us.”

If Karen’s experience is anecdotal, then it’s also incredibly common. A critical shortage of social housing means many adults with severe learning difficulties and autism are left isolated, excluded or worse.

Analysis by the Housing Learning and Improvement Network (Housing LIN) reveals that there is an estimated need for between 27,000 and 34,500 units of supported housing by 2037.

Accessing the local authority funding required to cover the cost of rent and care isn’t necessarily the problem — finding a forever home is the real predicament facing thousands of families across the country.

Step forward The Middleton Foundation and the charity’s life-changing Molly’s Project. “After helping a family friend find a home for her daughter, Molly, we came to realise that there are so many people with severe learning difficulties who are effectively homeless once they reach 18,” explains charity trustee, Jeremy Middleton CBE.

“A lot of these young people are in hospital, costing the NHS thousands of pounds a day. Many more are living with parents and that can’t go on forever because, put simply, parents don’t go on forever. Others are in unsuitable and inadequate accommodation.

“So our mission with Molly’s Project is to try to help address the issue of homelessness affecting young people with learning difficulties, including autism, in the North East of England. That’s where our roots are but we recognise that this is a national crisis and we would love to do more.”

When it comes to the North East, Jeremy’s roots run deep. He arrived in the region in 1984 as a fresh-faced marketing professional before joining forces with business partner Richard Harpin to found Newcastle-based Professional Properties. In 1993 the pair launched HomeServe — Jeremy finally exiting the FTSE 100 listed company 30 years later to focus fully on his family office investments and The Middleton Foundation.

“I’ve been involved in various philanthropic endeavours for many years but I was looking to do something more impactful,” he adds. “I really wanted to try to create something that is tangible, something that you can see and touch. I wanted to identify a situation where there is a definite need for support and to develop a sustainable solution.

“When I became aware of Molly’s situation, and the challenges she and her family face, it became clear that’s where The Middleton Foundation’s focus should be. Although Molly was in the education system, and known to have significant needs all her life, when she got to 18, she got booted out of that residential education system. She was effectively homeless.

“We stepped in with the aim to find a forever home for Molly — to benefit her but also to support her parents and wider family. We bought the first place and Molly’s Project was born.”

Karen still counts her lucky stars that a chance conversation between Megan’s social worker and YMCA North Tyneside connected the Woods with The Middleton Foundation. “I’d describe myself as a very pushy mother when it comes to supporting Megan and there’s not much that I miss,” she admits. “But I was completely unaware of Molly’s Project and how it might help us. Our lives have been transformed — it’s like a weight has been lifted from our shoulders.”

Megan’s new home in Hexham — a stone’s throw from her family — was identified, purchased and furnished by The Middleton Foundation. For Karen, a seamless process was utterly at odds with an often soul-destroying experience dealing with disparate organisations simply unable to offer stress-free transitions for teenagers moving into adulthood.

“For the first time in this journey we didn’t have to go through every layer of bureaucracy to get any and every little thing done,” she adds. “Megan’s behaviour has changed dramatically — and for the better — because she’s so settled. It’s her space. She chose the lights, the cushions, the bedding — all of those things.

“It’s Megan’s home. It’s not a rental property. It’s a home that she happens to pay rent for. The main benefit is that she’s not going anywhere. The Middleton Foundation has made a commitment that this is Megan’s home for her entire life now, if that’s what she wants.

“As a result of that commitment we’ve moved to Hexham too. We can walk to each other’s houses in just a few minutes. We bump into each other at the shops and make plans for a coffee. Megan’s new home has made a huge difference to the time we spend together as a family and to the quality of that time. We wouldn’t have had that in any other situation — even with another social landlord. It’s that long-term commitment and that peace of mind that’s changed everything.

“There must be so many people like us who are getting older themselves and they just don’t know what’s going to happen to their adult child with needs. Thanks to Molly’s Project, that mental load has been taken off us and I can’t over-estimate what that means. Every parent in our situation worries about what will happen to their child when they’re gone. We know Megan will still be cared for in a home she loves.”

Slowly but surely, Molly’s Project is providing more and more safe, supportive, and affordable housing for those who struggle to transition into independent or supported living. The house for Molly was purchased in 2020 and the charity now has seven properties housing 15 residents.

“Our purpose isn’t to complain about the system but we do need to highlight the fact that there is a significant problem,” says Jeremy.

“We’d like to grow more quickly but it’s extremely difficult. There are so many agencies involved who have to agree to what we do — all on their own terms and all for very good reasons. The system is dysfunctional, despite goodwill all round.”

Molly - the first young person to be helped by The Middleton Foundation who now has a project named after her

Bypassing that system provides invaluable breathing space for families like the Woods but identifying those families is the first hurdle the Molly’s Project team must overcome. Raising awareness within the social housing sector remains a challenge for a fledgling foundation still finding its feet. That Karen came across Molly’s Project almost by chance is a concern.

“As a charity we’re constantly trying to find people who qualify for our support and then make sure there is a housing association in place,” explains Jeremy. “Then we need to confirm that there’s a care provider, ensure that our future tenant is entitled to housing benefit and agree with social services that everything is set up for a move.

“On top of that, we have to find the property, buy it and refurbish it. And anyone who’s bought properties knows that, in itself, can take some time.”

The Middleton Foundation is looking to add a new property to its portfolio every three to four months. “We want to identify more parents like Karen, more young people like Megan and more stakeholders who are open to collaboration,” adds Jeremy. “Encouraging all parties to work together is key.”

Karen echoes Jeremy’s view that collaboration is essential for progress. She points to the moment she and her husband realised Megan required assisted living outside of the family home and recalls her shock at the number of different agencies tasked with making the one decision that would determine her daughter’s short-term future.

“The realisation that we needed support led to a major situation where, suddenly, the local authority pulled together all of these professionals with different specialisms,” explains Karen. “My husband and I ended up in a room with something like 40 different individuals and agencies and they all had to agree on how they could help. After a period of assessment they explained Megan needed to be in full-time residential care and wondered how we’d managed to make it that far.

“But by the time our daughter reached 18 it was almost as if none of these people had talked to each other since. When someone ‘ages out’ of children’s services and moves into adult services the failings of that move can be quite significant.

“You’re dealing with your children’s social worker but they don’t seem to know anything about adult services and adult services don’t pick up the young person until they’re an adult. There’s very little crossover. It’s like this weird hole in the system where people just fall through.

“The need for greater collaboration and a smoother transition is critical. I’m sure The Middleton Foundation could make an even greater impact, in a far shorter period, if there was a more joined-up, multi-agency approach.”

For now Jeremy accepts Molly’s Project must walk before it can run but that burning desire to impact families at scale is palpable. “It’s not my place to say what the solution to the system is,” he insists. “We’re just a small cog, trying to be a bigger cog.

“But if there was somebody with an overarching role, like the North East Mayor, for instance, who could appoint a czar with specific responsibility for social housing then we might start to make some serious headway.

“There would be an opportunity to galvanise the various agencies and a chance to ease those transitions from children’s services to adult services. That, in turn, would lead to greater awareness around the issue and, at that point, I’m confident we’d find more people who would consider making a charitable donation to what is an incredibly worthy cause with tangible outcomes.”

This year The Middleton Foundation has agreed a partnership with Places For People — one of the largest housing associations in the UK. Together the two organisations are better placed to identify and purchase more Molly Homes for families most in need. “Right now we’re a small player,” concedes Jeremy. “But I think working with others, like Places For People, means we can be a catalyst to make this whole movement a bit bigger. That would be fantastic.”

For now, Karen and Megan are the lucky ones. “Due to her severe learning difficulties, Megan will never really understand just how much of a difference Molly’s Project has made to her life,” explains her mother. “But we see it every day.

“Before she moved into her Molly Home, Megan was at a different place in Hexham, living with another 18-year-old. It ended up with this quite volatile situation in the house where it wasn’t safe for either of them or for their carers. The carers would have to try to keep them separate but there were shared living spaces. It was a disaster waiting to happen but there just wasn’t any suitable alternative social housing available.

“Now Megan has her own space and everything exactly how she needs it to be. I can’t really describe the sense of relief we feel as a family. When I reached out for help all those years ago I never believed we’d find ourselves in this position.”

For more information on The Middleton Foundation and Molly’s Project visit middletonenterprises.com/the-middleton-foundation

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