More than Grandparents is a small local charity based in Sunderland ran by kinship carers for kinship families. The charity was developed in response to the lack of support experienced by kinship carers when taking on responsibility for family members child. There is no statutory responsibility for local authorities to support these families so often they receive little or no support from statutory organisations. Often it is the grandparents who take on the role of kinship carer and often they have their own life limiting health conditions, often they have additional caring responsibilities, often they are struggling financially as a direct result of taking responsibility for someone else's child. Often the children they care for display challenging behaviour or have conditions such as autism, adhd or foetal alcohol syndrome. Often kinship children can be violent towards their carers and its the carer themselves that becomes vulnerable. In addition they are often struggling to manage extremely difficult relationships with the child's parents and having to supervise contact between the child and its parents.
More than Grandparents offers much needed emotional support either on a 1-1 basis or via peer support sessions. We also provide children's activities during holidays and after school helping to reduce the cost of keeping children entertained and addressing holiday hunger. We are described as a life line by the families we support.
