| Aims for the future |
| The following services are the top priorities for many different reasons and need further funding and support to increase our resources: |
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| Membership and volunteer co-ordination: A majority of callers to the Grandparents' Advice and Information Line state that they wished that they had heard of our organisation at the start of their problems. We need to increase our publicity but also provide the necessary back up in service provision to accommodate their needs. |
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| All new members receive a survey form. This enables us to provide statistics that are not currently available elsewhere. Members are asked to indicate whether they would be willing to be a volunteer and help others in similar situations. This new survey started six months ago and around 20% of respondents state that they would like to volunteer for self-help services, either immediately or in the future, whilst some 80% wish to receive more support. |
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| All volunteers complete an application form and references taken up. Once approved, volunteers receive training and on-going support. Numbers have increased from 2 to 30 plus (including new volunteers awaiting training). New volunteers are always welcome. |
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| Support groups: There are, at present, 20 support groups throughout the UK and more are needed. Grandparents Association supplies the publicity materials, training and support, whilst volunteers who have experienced problems themselves, run the groups. This network needs to be expanded. |
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| The government is actively promoting kinship care nationally. Social Services departments have been investigating ways of delivering this as there is a severe shortage of foster carers for the number of children needed to be accommodated in the care system There would be a need to set up support mechanisms for kinship carers as they have different needs from paid, stranger foster carers. Grandparents undertake a majority of kinship care. The UK average for kinship foster care is 10% at present but many authorities are reporting that these numbers are increasing rapidly as they seek to meet the needs of children by using grandparents as foster care placements. |
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| Without foster care, adoption is often the only other option with grandparents being permanently denied contact with their grandchildren. This can lead to a great deal of pressure being put on grandparents by Social Services departments, who have a duty of care to the children and are looking at ways to deliver this. Alternatively, children are often adopted without grandparents being given the opportunity to adopt. This is especially true in the case of very young children. I believe that an independent organisation, such as Grandparents Association, should provide the support services rather than a statutory organisation that may have a conflict of interests. To make sure this service works successfully it would need to be supported by an advocacy service. |
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| Advocacy: Grandparents Association is often asked by grandparents for a 'Mackenzie friend' type figure who will accompany them to Social Services meetings, attend court with them, help with the completion of legal forms etc. Despite the growing number of advocacy projects in the UK Grandparents Association has failed to identify any who are able to help with the needs of the extended family members. To set up such a service for grandparents would be both unique and innovative and grandparents would be able to receive one to one support from their peers who have been through the same sort of difficulties. |
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| Intergenerational: Grandparents Association would like to pilot four intergenerational projects where older people could take on a surrogate grand-parenting role. With many families living many miles apart, children and grandparents often miss out on the experience of regular contact. This project would allow older people to recognise their worth and develop new skills at a time when isolation and self-doubt lessen their quality of life. The benefits to both the volunteer grandparent and the child would be enormous. |
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| Grandparent and Toddler groups: Our current Project Worker is employed for only 10 hours, which restricts the areas where we can develop such schemes. We would like to see more financial support for the organisation to allow us to deliver this service in a larger geographical area. |
