Family Rights Group

We’ve been in Parliament this week to work with MPs and Peers to relaunch the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care, following the general election. It was fantastic to see so much support from parliamentarians with standing room only! Family Rights Group is proud to provide the secretariat to the APPG, which we have done since we instigated the Group in 2021. It built on our work establishing the cross-party parliamentary taskforce on kinship care in 2018. We were joined by Minister for Children and Families, Janet Daby MP, who was clear in her commitment to making positive change for kinship carers and supporting more children to live safely in their families. The Minister said kinship care is on the Government’s priority list and is focused on the upcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill and spending review. Congratulations to the APPG’s newly elected officer team: Melanie Onn, Labour MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, is the new Chair. Melanie was raised in kinship care with her aunt and was a crucial ally in securing key changes like the two child tax credit exemption for kinship care. The Group’s vice chairs are: Joe Robertson, Conservative MP for Isle of Wight East. Joe is a former family solicitor and brings new insight from the frontline of the family justice system. Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat MP for Twickenham. Munira introduced the Kinship Care Bill in the last Parliament and has been a fantastic champion for kinship carers. Baroness Armstrong, former Labour Minister and a stalwart parliamentary campaigner on child welfare issues. A huge thank you to outgoing Chair and kinship carer, Andrew Gwynne MP, who has led the Group since 2021. He confirmed he's already using his new ministerial role to champion kinship carers in Government. A special mention to members of our kinship carers panel, Shanayd and Ray, who spoke at the meeting. They eloquently shared their experiences and the highs and lows faced by kinship families across the country. Thank you to all the kinship carers who have been lobbying their MPs to join the APPG. Your work has really paid off! Find out more about the Group and sign up for updates here: https://lnkd.in/ep47FUpX Cathy Ashley Jordan Hall #kinshipcare #families #children #childwelfare #politics #parliament

If you’re looking for free, confidential and independent advice from a real person - not a bot - then please get in touch. Our specialist advisers are experienced lawyers, social workers and family rights advocates who understand the law, children’s services processes and social workers’ concerns. We’re here to: - help you understand the law and child welfare system - offer a non-judgmental, objective overview of your situation - clarify your rights and options, simplifying information that’s hard to understand - outline tips so you can work well with your lawyer and social workers - provide you with useful guides and template letters - put you in touch with others in a similar position through our forums Our ‘who what why’ advice pages are a great place to start. https://lnkd.in/efXn7cVg

What a weekend! Team FRG had the best time ever, despite the refreshing showers...and we loved hearing the stories of all the other fundraisers too, so a huge shout out to them as well: Marie Curie UK Teenage Cancer Trust Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Ovarian Cancer Action The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association , The Percy Hedley Foundation Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association Young Lives Vs Cancer and Mind. Don't forget there's still time to donate - and hopefully our fab photos and step by step guide will inspire you to get training for next year! https://ow.ly/9mtU50TjeXr #GreatNorthRun #CharityRunners #FamilyRightsGroup #Fundraising

Team Family Rights Group are gearing up for the Great North Run this weekend, so pack up your jelly babies and your banners and head down to the streets of Newcastle and South Shields this weekend to cheer them on. The names you’ll need on the tip of your tongue are Jane Carmichael Jordan Hall John Loveday and Cathy Ashley – cheering and whooping would be fantastic – and even better would be any donations that you’d like to fling our way. We can’t wait to see you down there! PS. Jane’s favourites are red, John is an orange man, Jordan is yellow and Cathy will go for green any time! https://ow.ly/UE1O50TgCwS #GreatNorthRun

‘I just moved on the same day, with nothing, and not knowing anything.’ Coventry care leaver Bayley Tubman spoke with BBC Midlands about her experiences before Lifelong Links. She spent her early teenage years in the care system, before moving to her own place alone at just 17 years old. However, thanks to Coventry City Council signing up to Lifelong Links, she’s been able to build a support network including from her former care worker Micheli. Bayley asked Micheli if she would be part of her chosen family network as part of Lifelong Links. She said yes – and now Micheli is a listening ear at the end of the phone, as well as a practical pal who will come and help with decorating. Lifelong Links is proven to lead to an improvement in mental health and reduce the risk of homelessness. It ensures children in care and care leavers have people they can turn to, in good times and in bad. Our #BuildNotBreak campaign is calling on the Government to make Lifelong Links an offer to all children and young people in care and care leavers.

Over 180,000 children in the UK are currently raised by kinship carers. Keeping children safely within their families in kinship care is proven to lead to better outcomes including emotional wellbeing and achievements in school. We’re campaigning for new kinship care legislation in Parliament and the next step is getting MPs on board. With a new Parliament and new MPs there are new opportunities to be heard - and time is running out to ask your MP to join the Kinship Care Group in Parliament. Please send them an invitation with our easy tool - to ensure kinship carers gain recognition and support for the way they help families to stay strong in tough times, stepping in to look after children when they can't stay at home. https://lnkd.in/eQ6ZR8Rx

If you’re looking for free, confidential and independent advice from a real person - not a bot - then please get in touch. Our specialist advisers are experienced lawyers, social workers and family rights advocates who understand the law, children’s services processes and social workers’ concerns. We’re here to: - help you understand the law and child welfare system - offer a non-judgmental, objective overview of your situation - clarify your rights and options, simplifying information that’s hard to understand - outline tips so you can work well with your lawyer and social workers - provide you with useful guides and template letters - put you in touch with others in a similar position through our forums Our ‘who what why’ advice pages are a great place to start. https://lnkd.in/efXn7cVg

“Yo, my name is Michael, I’ve lived with my nan since I was three…” Michael is one of the young people from Kinship Carers Liverpool who will join our panel at the ‘For the love of gran’ at the upcoming The Labour Party fringe event on Sunday 22nd September. He’ll read the moving open letter he penned for the book ‘Free Loaves on Fridays – the care system as told by people who actually get it’ edited by social work professional, Rebekah Pierre, herself care experienced. Why not come and join us? Josh MacAlister, chair of the 2022 independent review of children’s social care, will host, as our panel including Chief Executive Cathy Ashley and kinship carer and former parliamentary candidate Clare Walsh discuss the importance of kinship care for children. Please note, our event is in the conference secure zone so a conference pass is required.

Free legal advice organisations have been at the frontline of delivering tech-enabled legal services to meet the increasing demand for their services and address the legal needs that would otherwise go unresolved. With contributions from Zoe Holland from Working Families and Savita Narain from Family Rights Group, we will be discussing how we can adapt existing evaluation models to monitor tech-based interventions, how we define key metrics, and discuss challenges in measuring tech facilitated impact. You can register for the session here: https://lnkd.in/dVTy_CRW and find out more about the session agenda on our website here: https://lnkd.in/dDErFGvK We hope to see many of you at this exciting session. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with anything that you’re interested in or keen to highlight. #AccessToJustice #JusticeAndInnovation #AI #LegalTech #LawTech #JusticeTech #AddressingUserNeeds

Family group conferences (FGC) are an approach from New Zealand, introduced and championed in the UK by Family Rights Group. FGCs are now used around the world to allow families to take a lead in finding safe solutions where there are concerns about the care and protection of children. Our inhouse expert, Family Group Conferences & Lifelong Links Practice Lead, Sean Haresnape will speak alongside Lorna Stabler, Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE), Cardiff University / Prifysgol Caerdydd Professor Jonathan Scourfield Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre (CASCADE) as part of the online The Kempe Center and University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus Conference ‘A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare’ . Sean and counterparts will explore the potential in FGCs for empowering families by working with their strengths, laying out the possibility of a wide range of beneficial outcomes. Join them to find out more on 8 October 2024. https://ow.ly/rEas50T9xXh