'Shocked, devastated, angry' - family support charity blasts Stormont over funding stoppage

Has a scheme, which helps severely vulnerable children in Belfast, become the first victim of the Stormont stalemate? Extern, the charity which runs the service, says they received a letter last Friday telling them their funding is being stopped. Funding, which the charity claim, costs just 83 pence per day for each child they help. Extern's Intensive Family Care Support supports around 240 families a year. These are families which really struggle to cope. The charity says they include children, who don't have many clothes, have no beds, little in the way of nutrition, and are sleeping on the floor. Their parents are dealing with addictions, mental health problems, prison and sometimes domestic violence. The letter from Richard Pengelly, the Permanent Secretary at the Department of health, states the scheme was piloted in belfast but at this time " it would not be feasible to roll out the service as piloted across Northern Ireland, as the overall cost would be prohibitive in the current financial climate." However the charity say they had not asked for it to be rolled out across Northern ireland. They say they were asking for a continuation of the Belfast Service, which has in its contract a clause allowing for a two year extension should the project pass evaluation - which they say it has done "in spades". Stephen spoke to Charlie Mack CEO of Extern Group.