Scotland’s Kinship Care Week: celebrating peer support

Scotland’s 2021 Kinship Care Week starts on Monday 15th March! 

This is an important date in the Big Hearts’ calendar – Kinship Care was chosen as our very first area of community work 6 years ago. Since then, our charity has been supporting hundreds of families living in this under-represented and commonly ‘hidden’ form of care.

What is Kinship Care? Find out in this video.

We will take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on the positive value of kinship care in Scotland and the incredible resilience from young people and carers involved.

Kinship Care & Covid-19

Reducing social isolation is at the heart of our Kinship Care programme.

Throughout 2020, we extended home visits and remote group activities to help school pupils, teenagers, male carers and the whole family build a network of peers who know and understand the challenges they face.

During the pandemic, our popular Tuesday After School Club at the Stadium moved to a live video chat platform. We launched a new Cooking Club where families try new recipes at home and we distributed close to 400 activity packs.

Overall Big Hearts supported 135+ adults and children, thanks to the continued funding from the City of Edinburgh Council, the RS Macdonald Charitable Trust and the National Lottery Community Fund.

Check out the support currently available. 

Follow #KinshipWeekScot

This week, we invite supporters and partners to check out Big Hearts’ online activity! We will share some insights on how we help kinship care families cope during the pandemic, how Big Hearts has shifted its support services accordingly and how to join our support groups if yourself or someone you know need assistance.

Follow @bighearts on Twitter, @bigheartscommunity on Facebook or contact our Kinship Care Helpline to speak to our support staff.