CONTACT LOUISA WEARN
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Office: 023 92 294726 / Mobile: 07969 361663

LATEST NEWS:

A guide to the workforce published by Portsmouth Portsmouth Children's Trust - DOWNLOAD THE GUIDE

'Portsmouth’s Children’s Trust strives to ensure the children and young people’s workforce is effectively supported to work together to meet the needs of children and young people within the city.We recognise the nature of integrated working can be challenging yet extremely effective in meeting the needs of children, young people and their families. We are committed to ensure the workforce continues to have a voice in ensuring there is on-going support to ease the complexity of multi-agency working. Practitioners have told us they would like something to help them understand what other professionals do with and for children and families in Portsmouth. In response to this, leaders and managers have contributed to developing this resource to support all those working with children, young people and families. By no means is this an exhaustive list of roles within Portsmouth and we therefore endeavour to develop this resource further over the coming months. We anticipate this booklet will be a valuable resource in planning for team around the child (TAC) meetings, team meetings, training and to assist with inductions for new members of staff."

WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO TELL YOUR STORY? – Media Volunteers wanted
We are recruiting Media Volunteers for The Grandparents Association. If you are happy to be contacted by the media for quotes, interviews, and stories, please download a volunteer application. If you have a query, please do not hesitate to call us.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET OTHER GRANDPARENTS TO SHARE THE HIGHS & LOWS OF YOUR SIMILAR EXPERIENCES? – If so please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / 023 92 294726

AUGUST 2010

Have your say about improving children’s access to play, sport and culture in Portsmouth

14.09.10 Third Advisory Group Meeting (10am-12pm)
The third meeting of the Advisory Group will take place on Tuesday 14th September 2010 from 10am to 12pm.  The focus of the meeting will be the report from the July workshop (details and report below) as it is the role of the Advisory Group to help develop and shape the Grandparents’ Association’s work in the city and so the group will decide how to take actions forward.

The group is made up of professionals and grandparents - if you would like more details on the group, or to join it then please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

05.10.10 & 14.10.10 - Prince or Pauper?  Come and find out your roots at our family history event
Portsmouth City Library and the Grandparents’ Association are running some sessions on ancestry for grandparents and grandchildren – come along to the Central Library and work with the Local Studies Librarian to research your family history and see what secrets your family history might hold!

If you are interested in coming along with your grandchild or grandparent then please contact: Louisa Wearn at the Grandparents’ Association as spaces are limited –  023 92 294726

Sessions:
Tuesday 5th October 10.00-11.30 am
Thursday 14th October 2.00-3.30 pm

RECENT EVENTS:

21.07.10 - Supporting Grandparents workshop – awareness raising/training event to improve support and services for grandparents in Portsmouth
Louisa’s job as Project Worker in Portsmouth is to identify and respond to the local needs of grandparents in the city and so she has been reaching out to grandparents in the city and working with local agencies to identify needs and solutions. 
To help with this an advisory group of local professionals working with families, and grandparents was set up and a key action from that was to hold an event which would focus on the ‘outcomes’ needed for grandparents – ie. what result was needed for grandparents and what changes were needed to achieve that.

Invitations were issued to all local professionals working with families with general adverts inviting grandparents to take part and 32 people attended the event.  This included 8 people who came to the event as ‘grandparents’ but many of the other attendees were both grandparents and professionals. 
The actions from the workshop will go to September meeting of the Advisory Group to take forward – look out for updates on this page but for now here is the REPORT from the workshop

APPENDICES:

A Turning the Curve workshop to identify issues & develop action plans - DOWNLOAD POWERPOINT 1 link coming soon

Why & how grandparents can make a difference - DOWNLOAD POWERPOINT 2  link coming soon

08.06.10 - Second Advisory Group / Network meeting

The second meeting was held on Tuesday 8th June and was well attended - Louisa even had to get more chairs for the 2 grandparents and various professionals who attended.
This group’s role is to develop existing services to better meet grandparents needs, and to develop priorities for the Association in Portsmouth.
Lorraine Riggs, a Kinship Care Support Worker from Hampshire County Council gave a very interesting talk, giving examples of some of the difficulties faced by grandparent carers and there was a lot of discussion and information sharing.

The draft terms of reference for the group were discussed and the updated version of those and the minutes for the event can be viewed here

If you would are interested in joining the group then please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for more details.

29.03.10 - Developing The Grandparents’ Association’s services in Portsmouth – First Advisory Group meeting

The first Advisory Group meeting took place on 29th March - 12 people attended including: a grandparent, the Naval Families Federation, ‘Dot to Dot’ local community arts organisation and a range of staff from city council teams running parenting, childrens services and health improvement and development services.

As Project Worker in the city Louisa Wearn has aims and objectives to support the grandparents in the city but what/how and when is to be determined by need. This group will help to develop existing services to better meet grandparents needs, and to develop priorities for the Association in Portsmouth. Discussions at the first meeting went well and some key priorities were agreed. These will be updated here shortly but in the meantime if you would like any further details please contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it / 07969 361663

26.01.10 - Support is on offer for grandparents.

Grandparents are being urged to make use of a new charity which can offer advice and support. The Grandparents' Association extended its reach to Portsmouth at the end of last year by introducing a local branch with the valued help of Tory councillor James Williams and Louisa Wearn The Grandparents' Association local Project Worker.

The local branch of the national charity works with grandparents who look after children - either all the time or now and again.

It also offers support to grandparents who have been separated from their grandchildren, and lobbies nationally to raise the profile of grandparents.

It also wants to get the role grandparents play in children's lives more widely recognised.

Project worker Louisa Wearn, who is based in the Community First offices in Commercial Road, said: 'It is my job to identify the needs of grandparents here in the city and to set up support to meet those needs - so please contact me. We realise that grandparents do not fall into neat categories.

'They are not all old people. The youngest grandparent we know is 28.'

To find out more or to join the association email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or phone 07969 361663.

17.11.09 -THE NEWS - PORTSMOUTH - New Group To Support Grandparents

Thank you to all those who attended the Portsmouth Conference for The Grandparents' Association on 10th November 2009. We are excited to have gained funding to provide some support in the city and we're pleased that grandparents were able to join us, along with the Mayor, and key people from the local authority and services.

Louisa Wearn started as our Project Worker at the conference launch in the city and will have a part time office base in the Community First office (in Commercial Road). Louisa’s role is to develop services to meet the needs of grandparents in the city and help people to access the range of services our Assocation provides.

We are setting up an Advisory Group to assess and agree what services would benefit grandparents in Portsmouth and if you would like to join this, or to get any further information on the work planned in Portsmouth please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any queries you may have or if you would like more information or have ideas you would like to share for developing this Grandparents'Association Portsmouth Office.

10.11.09 - Portsmouth Conference for The Grandparents' Association

We launched The Grandparents' Association in the city at our Conference in THE HAVEN COMMUNITY CENTRE, 17 LAKE ROAD, PORTSMOUTH ON 10TH NOVEMBER 2009

The Chief Executive of Portsmouth City Council, David Williams, welcomed the delegates tp the city and the Terry Hall, Mayor of Portsmouth also spoke at the event.

The Chief Executive of The Grandparents' Association - Lynn Chesterman outlined the aims of the Association and Kevin Williams, from TACT (The Adolescent and Children's Trust) outlined research on the improved outcomes possible for children if kept within the wider family.

Dr Hamish Cameron, Child Psychiatrist, spoke about the importance of grandparents in the lives of children, and Stephen Massey, (Lawyer at Christopher Green McCarrahers) talked about keeping disputes out of court.

The day ended with a Q & A Panel, which included Councillor Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Leader of Portsmouth City Council, Lynn Chesterman, Kevin Williams, Dr. Hamish Cameron and Stephen Massey

The Association is keen to set up an Advisory Group of people with personal or professional interest in issues affecting grandparents and their access to/care for grandchildren and is keen to hear from anyone who may like to join.

For more information on the group, or the conference please contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it