Massive support for grandparent carers in the South West
New poll findings from YouGov commissioned by charities Grandparents Plus, the Family and Parenting Institute and Family Lives show huge backing for better financial and practical help for grandparents raising children because their parents can’t look after them.
81% of adults in the South west of England think grandparents and other relatives bringing up a child should receive practical help from their local council, and 71% think they should receive a financial allowance. This rises to 84% of adults who think grandparents should get a financial allowance if they are on a low income. 83% think they should receive similar support to foster carers.
63 year old local grandmother Dorothy Evans from Plymouth has been bringing up her grandson, now 13, since he was a baby with no support from the local authority. Robert was taken into care by the local authority when he was 6 months old because of concerns about neglect and domestic violence, before coming to live with Dorothy.
Dorothy says, “We’ve done our best to make sure my grandson doesn’t miss out but it’s difficult when you are managing on a pension. I buy lots of things second hand and luckily Robert isn’t bothered about labels. He’s happy to make do with Primark.”
She adds, “We struggle to afford things other children take for granted, like family holidays.
Dorothy, who has health problems, receives a state pension and Pension Credit but gets no financial help from the local authority.
Karen Crookshank, 56, from Paignton, is bringing up three grandchildren aged 9, 11 and 12. Although she now receives some financial support from the local authority, it took a two year battle to achieve this. Every year a letter arrives reminding her that this payment is discretionary and could be stopped at any point. Karen says, “It’s horrible living like this, it’s like a sword is hanging over you. If the payments stop I will have to sell my house to fund us.”
Grandmother Karen is also at risk of losing child benefit if the government implements proposals for capping benefits for families with more than three children.
Charity Grandparents Plus is campaigning for better support for grandparents and other relatives bringing up children when parents cannot look after them, for example because a parent has died or is seriously ill, or because they are misusing drugs or alcohol.
Grandparents Plus own research shows that just 33% of family members who are bringing up a child because their parents can’t look after them get financial assistance from their council, and 68% of carers who asked their council for help still don’t get the support they need.
Sam Smethers, Grandparents Plus chief executive says, “It’s great that people in the South west are backing grandparent carers. Grandparent carers are treated as second class carers because they are not entitled to similar support to foster carers or to parental leave when they take on care of children. We’re calling on the Government and local authorities to give kinship carers like Dorothy, and the children they are raising, the support they need. All too often kinship carers are left to bring up vulnerable children without any financial or practical help from their council.”
Ms Smethers adds, “It is time for local authorities and central government to recognise and support the vital role kinship carers play in keeping children out of care because it is both better for children and more cost-effective for the taxpayer.”
In the UK there are an estimated 200,000 kinship carers – grandparents and other family members -bringing up between 200,000 and 300,000 children because parents cannot look after them. Research shows that a high proportion experience poverty, isolation and lack of support.
Grandparents Plus is the national organisation that champions the role of grandparents and the wider family in children’s lives, through the provision of advice and support, research and campaigning. Our advice service is open Monday to Friday 10am -3pm on 0300 123 7015. www.grandparentsplus.org.uk
