The Relative Experience Project Are you bringing up a relative’s child? Throughout the UK around 200,000 grandparents and other family members are raising a child because their parents are unable to care for them, often because of very difficult family circumstances. These grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives – known as ‘kinship carers’ – often struggle to cope with very little support and can feel isolated and alone. But if you are a kinship carer living in the North East, the Relative Experience Project is here to help. Relative Experience Project We can support kinship carers through • Providing a befriender to offer individual support to any kinship carer. Our team of trained befrienders are all volunteers, many with experience of being a kinship carer themselves. They get to know the kinship carer and provide a listening ear and support to kinship carers over a period of up to several weeks or months • Local Support Groups. We support existing groups and help kinship carers to set up new groups and build networks where needed. Groups meet on a regular basis in a community venue and provide a chance for kinship carers and the children they care for to meet, share concerns, ideas and have some fun together • Signposting to relevant services for further information and advice Family and Childcare Trust Who we are The Relative Experience project is run by three well known charities: Grandparents Plus, Family Lives and the Family and Childcare Trust. It is funded by the Big Lottery Silver Dreams Fund, which focusses on projects supporting people aged 50 and over. So if you are a kinship carer and you need support, information or advice, or you just want someone to talk to – then take the first step and give us a call on 0191 200 5034 Five things you might not know about kinship care • There are around 200,000 to 300,000 children in kinship care, four times the number in foster care. • These children have often experienced the same types of early difficulties as children in foster care. • Two thirds of kinship carers are struggling on very low incomes and over half give up work or reduce their hours when a child moves in. • Most kinship carers get no support from their local council. • Almost half of family and friends carers are caring for a child with a disability or special educational needs. Relative Experience Project c/o The Meadows Community Centre, Waterville Road, North Shields NE29 6BA Tel: 0191 200 5034 ext 213 • Email: [email protected] Follow our blog: relativeexperience.wordpress.com Family and Childcare Trust Grandparents Plus www.grandparentsplus.org.uk Advice Service: 0300 123 7015 Charity no. 1093975 Family Lives www.familylives.org.uk Helpline: 0808 800 2222 Charity no. 1077722 Family and Childcare Trust familyandchildcaretrust.org.uk Charity no. 1077444
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