MUM-OF-FIVE Amanda Hooper is urging cash-strapped parents to seek help after she turned her own financial fortunes around.

Last week the Wiltshire Times revealed almost half the children on some Trowbridge and Melksham estates are in poverty, according to a new NHS report.

Ms Hooper, of Seymour Road, Trowbridge, has children aged 18, 17, nine, six and two, with another on the way. She regularly attends Belle-field Children’s Centre. The Seymour estate, where 31.2 per cent of children live in poverty, is within its catchment area.

Ms Hooper said: “My second eldest had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and it wasn’t very easy to cope with, especially when you are struggling to make ends meet.

“I sought help from the children’s centre and it really changed things. If you have a place like this, you always have someone to talk to.

“When you are feeling depressed, you end up spending money that you don’t have, which makes the situation worse. If the children’s centre wasn’t here, I’d probably be down the shops.

“I did a budgeting course at the centre and it helped me to understand ways of saving money that I had never thought about before.

“Now we only buy things if we really need it. The course helped me an awful lot and I’m pleased to say that now we are debt free.” Help and advice is available at children’s centres for parents who want to discuss finding employment or dealing with tax credits.

Staff offer a parents’ guide to money to anyone worried about budgeting. There is also support for people with depression.

Roz Lambert, west Wiltshire manager for 4Children centres, said: “Child poverty can be greatly determined by the way you parent. Sometimes there is a lack of family support, which can be a contributing factor.

“The children’s centres play an important role in helping parents regain their self-esteem and providing them with the support to get them back in to work, or to help with depression.”

Reducing child poverty in some of the most deprived estates is a top priority, Wiltshire Council has said. There is a close link between deprivation in an area and the child poverty rate.

Areas with the greatest child poverty are Studley Green, Lower Studley and Seymour in Trowbridge and the Forest estate in Melksham, which all fall into the top 30 per cent most deprived areas in the country.

Measures to tackle the problem include extra support for families of with pre-school children, ensuring school leavers have the skills for working life, encouraging new jobs and improving work skills.