Multi-Cultural Family Base marked its 20th anniversary last night with an event at the Scottish Parliament named “Transitions into Primary School”. The event, hosted by Angela Constance MSP, was an opportunity to hear about the experiences of migrant and refugee children starting school as well as showcase the work of MCFB in a new documentary film called “Dreaming, Perseverance, Resilience – the story of Multi-Cultural Family Base”, created by film company duo, Written In Film.

The event opened with Angela Constance reflecting on the importance of positive school transitions for BME families, of learning cultures within agencies and of supporting New Scots. This led to Dr Autumn Roesch-Marsh, senior social work lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, presenting research into the experiences of migrant and refugee families starting primary school.

Professor Sir Geoff Palmer talked about his experiences of moving from Jamaica to London in the 1960s, noting that the sort of support services offered by agencies like MCFB were not available for his single parent mother.  This led onto the screening of the film, ‘Dreaming, Perseverance, Resilience’, charting the history of the agency and its responses to the needs of families who have settled in Edinburgh.

Paying tribute to the founder of MCFB, Nita Brown, who was unable to attend the event, Steve Gowenlock said:

“Nita had a sharp, analytic and strategic mind, an intuitive way of being. She was a strong advocate for play and children’s needs, a supporter of community based social work and anti-racist practice. She created opportunities for social work students to work cross-culturally and directly with children.” 

Ben McPherson, Minister for Europe, Migration and International Development , took the opportunity to highlight the benefits to Scottish society that can be attributed to those who choose to settle in Scotland from other areas of the world and connected this to Scotland’s ambition for an inclusive and just society. He spoke of the importance of the support offered by MCFB within his constituency as well as city wide.

Summing up the evening, Wendy Paterson, Chair of the MCFB Board, talked about the importance of being an agency that listens and values people and thanked funders, film makers and MCFB staff and Board. 

The film, “Dreaming, Perseverance, Resilience – the story of Multi-Cultural Family Base” will be screened at a series of events during 2019 and will then be available to view online. Details of these screenings will be published on the MCFB website.