| I am currently in the process of sifting | Various combinations of Traveller / settled |
| through simply masses of field notes and | relatives and carers exist, with differing |
| interview records, trying to pull out the | gender roles around child care, and some |
| main themes. | families have members who are disabled |
| or experiencing health problems. | |
| I mentioned in the last newsletter that | |
| It is becoming clear that the Criminal | |
| "early findings indicate a vast diversity of | Justice Act has had a devastating effect |
| lifestyles and educational experiences | on New Travellers. A lot of people have |
| within the broad New Traveller | gone abroad, but that has always been a |
| community; with seemingly fewer fully | feature of the Travelling lifestyle, and it's |
| itinerant families than in the late 80s, and | not easy to be sure whether this trend has |
| hence an impoverished culture less able to | actually increased in recent times, as |
| network appropriate parenting and | many seem to suggest. |
| educational skills". | |
| Certainly a lot of those who are currently | |
| I can now report the patterns family | housed link this to their children's need for |
| structure among those I spoke to included | schooling, together with the difficulty in |
| (in approximate order of frequency) | finding suitable sites. Approximately half |
| of the interviewees suggested that | |
| * single mums (some with live-in lovers) | changing patterns of drug use were |
| who outnumbered strictly nuclear | causing serious problems for Travellers |
| families by half | and that this impacted significantly on |
| children's education. | |
| * although if unmarried but committed | |
| couples planning, expecting or rearing | An outline research report will be |
| children are included, then nuclear | presented to Trustees at their next |
| families equal single mums in number | meeting, giving detailed criticisms of the |
| Travellers School Charity s' performance | |
| * extended families are the next | and specific suggestions for educational |
| commonest type, and if taken together | initiatives which the charity could support. |
| with | This will hopefully form the basis for future |
| funding applications - including proposals | |
| * complicated "family brambles" resulting | for further research targeting Scotland, |
| from serial monogamy, these slightly | Ireland and the North and East of England |
| outnumber | including boat-dwellers and urban sites. |
| . | |
| * unrelated communal groups with | The full report is due for printing, |
| varying degrees of shared child care, | for sale to TES's, voluntary organisations, |
| hotly followed by | researchers, policy makers, and grant |
| giving bodies. It will aim to raise | |
| * adoptive and foster parenting | awareness and increase understanding of |
| arrangements - some more formal than | current issues in New Traveller education. |
| others | and point towards improvements in policy |
| and provision. This is intended to feed in | |
| * among the above I encountered 3 | to the law reform proposals being |
| mixed race families | developed by a broad platform of |
| Traveller organisations and headed by the | |
| * full time single dads are outnumbered | Traveller Law Research Unit in Cardiff. |
| two to one by single mums | |
| Most importantly, I hope to be able to | |
| * lesbian co-parents are few, and | make the complete findings available to |
| experience isolation | the Traveller community by way of an |
| event in the near future. If you | |
| * single men often reported having a | are interested in attending or helping to |
| child with an estranged partner. | organise this, please contact Rachel at |
| travelling or housed | PO Box 36, Grantham. NG31 6EW. |
| . | |
| * single childless men appear to out | |
| number their female counterparts on | |
| the road | |