Specialist facilities
Multidisciplinary autism centre ‘akin to a butterfly’
Trudi Beswick, CEO of Caudwell Children, describes the background behind, and meticulous thought, expertise, and imagination that have gone into, the design and construction of the new Caudwell International Children’s Centre at Keele University in Staffordshire, ‘the UK’s first independent purpose-built centre dedicated to multidisciplinary autism diagnosis, support, and research’, which is set to open later this year.
Caudwell Children is a national children’s charity based in Staffordshire that provides practical and emotional support for disabled children and their families, founded in 2000 by the entrepreneur and philanthropist, John Caudwell, whose pioneering vision was to create a charity which offered life-changing support to its beneficiaries, balanced with complete transparency to its supporters. By pledging to cover the charity’s administration and management costs through an annual personal donation, John Caudwell enables us to deliver our promise that 100% of direct donations will go directly to help the children and families we support – a promise that stands us apart from many other charities and NGOs. As the former director of Executive Projects for the Caudwell Group (Phones 4U et al), John Caudwell asked me to write the business case and strategy, and then structure and deliver his vision for the charity. Doing so set me on a journey which would shape the next 18 years of my life and beyond. At Caudwell Children we pride ourselves on our efficiency; with our roots firmly in the commercial sector we value the need to offer our supporters the best possible return for their philanthropic investment – delivering as much help as possible for every pound they generously donate. As such, we celebrate the fact that our unique relationship with our founder, as well as our commercial approach to fundraising and service delivery, have enabled us to consistently deliver over £2.14 worth of services for every £1 donated – effectively doubling the amount of good that each donation we receive is able to make.
SERVICE-USER FEEDBACK At the same time we are closely attuned to our beneficiaries and stakeholders, assessing service-user feedback and maintaining strategic links with third-party organisations or professionals to ensure that our services offer families the most effective support. The families we support often have to fight for every bit of help they get, and all too often have to wait too
long for the support their child needs today. At Caudwell Children we are passionate about working in collaboration with other charities and statutory bodies to fill the gaps left in an effective manner, which enables children and families to reach their full potential. It was our close attention to the charity’s
efficiency and effectiveness that ultimately led us to the moment we are at today, with the imminent launch of our largest single project to date, the Caudwell International Children’s Centre.
It was this same focus that also gave me the drive and determination to create a facility that broke the ‘norms’ of third sector construction,
The families we support often have to fight for every bit of help they get, and all too often have to wait too long for the support their child needs today
but didn’t break the bank. It was in 2007 that, following our annual service review, I identified an imbalance in the charity’s provision of services for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), compared with the amount of restricted funds being generated. This imbalance presented a risk to our ability to support the 105,000 children estimated to live with autism spectrum disorder in the UK.
SCALE OF ASD ISSUE HIGHLIGHTED At that time, 54% of all applications received by the charity were for children with a primary diagnosis of ASD, while only 5% of restricted funds were being allocated to cover the costs of the services these children were accessing. Further investigation by the charity only served to highlight the scale of the problem; research conducted in the UK and US by the London School of Economics and Political Science showed that autism costs the UK at least £32 billon a year in terms of treatment, lost earnings, and care and support for children and adults with ASD. Furthermore, the study, published in the
Journal of the American Medical Association of Pediatrics, showed that only £6.60 per person is spent on autism research, compared with £295 on cancer. These findings reinforced the 15 years of anecdotal evidence compiled by the charity from our beneficiaries, indicating that children with ASD were in many cases waiting years to receive a formal diagnosis, following which the help and support they received statutorily was almost non-existent.
The new Caudwell Children International Centre, pictured in August this year. Inset: The two hyperbolic paraboloid roof structures give the appearance of a butterfly, which is also the charity’s logo.
THE NETWORK OCTOBER 2018 13
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