Children’s carers to get guardian angels
A new support group for extended family members who care for children is to be launched.
Warwickshire County Council’s Family and Parenting Support Team is developing ‘Guardian Angels’ - a support group for kinship carers. It is planned to run in North Warwickshire, South Warwickshire and Rugby.
Kinship care is an arrangement where a child who cannot be cared for by their parents goes to live with a relative or a family friend. Guardian angels is being set up in response to national research showing the need for more support for those providing care for children within the family that are not able to live with their birth parents.
Grandparents, aunts, uncles and older siblings take on responsibility for children for many reasons such as illness, death, substance misuse, domestic violence, financial difficulties or mental illness.
Grandparents in particular often step in where children are at risk, where parents are struggling to cope with the demands of parenting.
Rebecca Phillpot from Warwickshire County Council’s Family Group Conferencing Team will be setting up the groups along with Jane Young from the Enhanced Support Network.
Rebecca said: "One study shows that 78% of children considered their grandparents to be important figures in their lives. Over half of childcare arrangements involve grandparents to some degree and many thousands of grandparents are parenting for the second time around, whether informally or formally through court orders."
She added: "The extended family is a fundamental building block for good outcomes for children and families and it is important that we offer them support and encourage them to develop networks to support each other"
If you are interested in finding out more about Guardian Angels please contact Rebecca Phillpot on 01926 742193 or email rebeccaphillpot@warwickshire.gov.uk