About Us

Last Updated on Wednesday, 20 February 2013 16:36

The Grandparent's Association has been working with and for grandparents to achieve positive outcomes for their grandchildren for decades. We were set up in  1987 by a group of grandparents whose grandchildren had been put into care, adopted from care or were not allowed any contact with them.

We have grown into a thriving  national charity, with around 1,000 members nationwide made up of grandparents and organisations.

Our mission is to improve the lives of children by working with and for all grandparents especially those who:

• Have lost or are losing contact with their grandchildren because of divorce, family feud or other problems.
• Are caring for their grandchildren on a full time basis.
• Have childcare responsibilities for their grandchildren.
• Are interested in the educational and welfare needs of their grandchildren.

WE BELIEVE THAT:

• A special relationship exists between grandchildren and grandparents.
• Decisions should always be made in the child's best interests.
• Children should have a voice.
• To campaign for improvements in relevant policy and legislation by highlighting issues unique to grandparents and grandchildren.
• Ageism should not feature in any decision taken in the best interest of the child's welfare and future.
• Younger people and older people can learn from each other.
• Policy makers must acknowledge the role of grandparents.
• Grandparents who are primary carers must be given equal status to other carers including financial support.

Join us!

Membership of the Association offers you discounts on our entire range of publications, FREE copy of the quarterly magazine, a FREE invitation to our national conferences, REDUCED rates on publications and the chance to take a greater role in The Grandparents Association. Join Us Now!

What we do

We are the leading providers of services for grandparents in the country.:

• We receive over 8500 calls a year to our helpline – with an average call length of 15 minutes.
• We also are recording over 150,000 hits a month to our website
• Distribute over 5,000 publications and leaflets to both grandparents and those working with them and their families.
• We operate a unique welfare benefits service.
• We are the only organisation giving information and advice on benefits to kinship carers.
• Our services also include community based support - enabling grandparents to meet up with others in similar situations via our grandparent support groups’ service.
• We offer  grandparents access to a lawyer’s list made up of firms from the Law Society's Children Panel and the Family Panel lists that have the necessary expertise to deal with cases involving children, grandparents or other family members who may consult them.

OUR AIMS

• To promote full participation by grandparents to ensure that contact is maintained between grandparents and their grandchildren when the family unit breaks down or there is conflict.
• To support grandparents who are caring for their grandchildren.
• To promote full participation by service users and potential service users in the design and delivery of support services.
• To campaign for improvements in relevant policy and legislation by highlighting issues unique to grandparents and grandchildren.
• To develop our equal opportunities policies and practice by continually monitoring and reviewing all aspects of our work and to promote the provision of accessible and appropriate services for all sections of the community.
• To educate the public in order to prevent the difficulties that cause the continued separation of grandchildren from their grandparents.

Lynn Chesterman - Chief Executive

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