Kirklees is a local authority with a large number of children who we support who live with connected carers under a Special Guardian Order (SGO) and our numbers are increasing.
The challenge
Kirklees is a local authority with a large number of children who we support who live with connected carers under a Special Guardian Order (SGO) and our numbers are increasing.
We have an established Connected Persons Support Team who directly support our kinship carers. The support from the team is typically centered around areas such as family time with birth parents, therapeutic needs of children and young people resulting in applications to the Adoption Support Fund and supporting kinship carers with parenting children who have had difficult early life experiences.
In our experience, there are often kinship families who may not require an allocated worker and prefer more ad-hoc or group support. Some kinship carers simply want a listening ear and to talk to a trusted person over a cup of tea, and to ‘offload’. The team does not have capacity to offer this type of support consistently.
The solution
Kinship Connected is a project run by Grandparents Plus in partnership with Local Authority Kinship Support Teams. We have had this partnership for over two years now. This has meant we have been able to refer those Kinship families who need a friendly listening ear but not necessarily an allocated social worker or family support worker.
The impact
The referral to the Kinship Connected Project has meant our Kinship carers have someone to talk to, and someone to signpost them to other services. 51 Kinship carers have been supported by the Project Worker since the programme started in October 2018. The Project Worker has secured grants for these families for items needed and has even accessed a holiday for some of our families. The service also provides the ‘Someone Like Me’ telephone peer support service, which is something we have been able to build on in the team and ‘buddy up’ Kinship Carers.
The use of this service has meant our team has been able to concentrate on supporting and working with the Kinship families who need a higher level of intervention and support.
For many families we have worked together with the Project Worker to provide support in partnership which has worked really well. We have also been able to support kinship carers without SGOs through virtual and face-to-face support groups.
How is the new approach being sustained?
The Senior Leadership Team has authorised further commissioning until the end of March 2022.
Lessons learned
The team has been established for seven years and over that time has supported hundreds of families with SGO’s. The partnership with Kinship Connected has raised the profile of the team and has enhanced the good work we do. It has created some regional joined up thinking and work with our neighbouring Local Authorities.
Contact
Connected Persons Support Team