The world can feel like a heavy place at the moment, particularly for parents of children who are struggling. Anything that can lighten the mood and celebrate families and our wonderful children is something to seek out.
Beacon Family Service have collaborated with artist and social worker Marley Starskey-Butler whose lived experience of the care system brings a powerful depth to their work. Marley observed Beacon over a year, to see the therapeutic play they offer families, and how they help trauma-experienced children and their families to build trust using approaches like Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Pschotherapy and create an exhibition titled Compensare: For the Swallows We Weigh.
The exhibition, running from the 24th January until 4th April 2026 at Eastside Projects, Birmingham, celebrates the tireless, often unseen efforts of parents and social workers who show up every day, fighting for the children who need them most. Together, they’re creating real, transformative change, despite the overwhelming challenges faced in today’s socio-political climate.
It considers what it takes to rebuild trust, heal invisible wounds, and nurture a child’s sense of belonging. Compensare: For the Swallows We Weigh invites you into a world where art meets therapeutic play and where the quiet triumphs of adoptive families and professionals meets systemic challenges.
Opening at Eastside Projects, Birmingham, this moving exhibition is born from a connection between two social workers who know the weight of the work and the hope that drives it. The exhibition explores the profound impact of relationships on children’s mental health and the hope that carries families forward when the journey feels impossible.
The inspiration behind For the Swallows We Weigh
Inspired by time spent with founder and director, Charlotte Jenkins and her team, Marley, who is grounded in professional and familial experiences of the care system, translates therapeutic practice into art, revealing what it means to nurture trust and joy in children who have lived through trauma.
Marley’s visual storytelling is set against a backdrop where political priorities and funding decisions continually shape access to therapeutic services. It highlights how systemic forces intersect with the lived realities of families and the professionals who support them.
Marley spent months researching and deeply immersing themselves in the work of Beacon Family Services. Through this, the emotional dynamics between social workers, therapists, adoptive families, and children navigating the difficult terrain of trauma, parent-child connection, and emotional development was brought to life. The result is a powerful mixed-media exhibition that reflects the intersection of art and social care, shining a light on the emotional and support landscapes that shape family relationships in the face of adversity.
“We wanted to capture the essence of the work and share that with all those who fund and experience our work,” said Charlotte Jenkins, CEO of Beacon Family Services. “It was a privilege to allow Marley to observe all our work. Their previous exhibition, Thirty-Six, had a profound impact on me because it expressed the depth of feeling about our own and others’ identity that we must grapple with as social workers.”
Photo Credit: Marley Starskey Butler
Therapeutic Play
At its core, the exhibition poses critical questions about how we as families, therapists, social workers and professionals can create spaces of transformation for children. How can therapeutic play, such as Theraplay® and DDP, help children feel safe enough to trust again? How can art, and the process of creating it, offer a voice to those who often feel lost or unheard in the system?
In addition to the exhibition, a series of community events will take place from January to April 2026, including hands-on Theraplay® experiences for families, movement workshops, and an artist Q&A. These events offer an opportunity for reflection, for the exchange of ideas, and for a deeper connection with the therapeutic practices that are changing lives.
This exhibition is not only for social workers and adoptive or kinship families but for anyone who wants to understand better the profound work that supports families. It’s for those who believe in the power of art, the importance of early mental health intervention, and the need for stronger, more supportive systems enabling all children to thrive.
This promises to be a moving and meaningful exhibition for professionals working in social care and mental health who are interested in relational play and emotional support or working creatively, for changemakers and advocates, for families involved in adoption / fostering / kinship care, and for anyone interested in the art, process, and social issues addressed by the work of Beacon Family Services.
The exhibition is a celebration of the hope that drives us all forward, even when the journey might seem impossible.
Beacon Family Services
Based in Sutton Coldfield, Beacon Family Services is a social enterprise driven by the ethos that every child deserves the chance to thrive. The therapists, practitioners and social workers at Beacon Family Services support families in Birmingham and the UK by addressing the pressing need for early mental health support through relational, authentic, and inclusive services with proven impact. They have a wide range of fully funded programmes that can be commissioned by social workers. Their evidence-based, flexible approaches – including Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) – provide families and professionals with the tools to foster emotional wellbeing and resilience in children, strengthening relationships and addressing behavioural challenges in a meaningful way.
Marley Starskey Butler
Marley Starskey Butler is an interdisciplinary artist and qualified social worker who lives and works in Birmingham. Their practice interweaves storytelling, memory, and emotional landscapes to explore how people make meaning of personal and collective narratives within systems of care.
Grounded in lived professional and familial experience in child protection, fostering, adoption, and mental health, their work centres on themes of well-being, social justice, and human rights. These experiences inform both the content and methodology of their practice, positioning it at an intersection of art and social care.
Recent exhibitions and projects include Thirty-Six, Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham (2024); Hospital Rooms – Sandwell CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) (2023/4); and Dwelling, Eagle Works Studios, Wolverhampton (2024)
About Eastside Projects
Eastside Projects is an artist-run public gallery and cultural space in Birmingham, UK. It commissions, produces, and exhibits contemporary art, focusing on new ideas and fostering dialogue within the city and beyond through diverse projects, residencies, and community engagement, including their “Cultural Citizens” programme.
As a platform for artists and audiences, it challenges traditional gallery models and explores new ways to support art and culture in an inclusive and accessible way.
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