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Our services in Hammersmith & Fulham
If you’re a kinship carer in Hammersmith and Fulham, we’re here to help you. You can access our Kinship Reach programme. Get the support you need.
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What is Kinship Reach in Hammersmith and Fulham?
We’re working with Hammersmith and Fulham Council to support special guardians across Hammersmith and Fulham as part of our Kinship Reach programme. This service is accessed remotely through phone or video call.
What is a special guardian?
A special guardian is someone (or a couple) named on a special guardianship order (SGO). This is a private law order made by the family court. The person or people named on the SGO will become the child’s special guardian.
How we can support you
If you’re a special guardian this means our Kinship Reach Family Worker will connect with you when we receive a referral from Hammersmith and Fulham Council. We can only give you one-to-one support once we receive a referral.
The support we can give you depends on what you need. We’ll work with you to develop a mini plan to help you with the things that you feel are most urgent or where you have identified you would like support.
We’ll usually work with you over 3 months and you can expect to have about 6 phone calls or video calls depending on what you’d prefer.
You’ll meet Lesley (Kinship Family Worker) and she can help you with things like:
- if you’d like support to talk to your school about what your child needs – this could about a special educational needs and disabilities diagnosis
- accessing support from other organisations – if you or your kinship child has experienced bereavement for example
- joining a peer support group
- getting access to therapeutic support through the adoption and special guardianship fund
- accessing our advice service and other services
These discussions are confidential, we are an independent charity. If a safeguarding concern is raised we will talk you about what that means and our duty of care.
How do I access support?
We’ve been commissioned to support special guardians who are referred from the local authority team at Hammersmith and Fulham Council. This is part of the Adopt London West Consortium.
You need to contact the team on adoptlondonwest@ealing.gov.uk to discuss what support you can access.
"I'm Lesley. I have been at Kinship since May 2022. I want to help kinship carers to access support and services, provide them with space to talk and meet other kinship carers. As well as help through raising awareness, to make positive change for all these families. I look forward to meeting you virtually soon."
Kinship Reach Family Worker
I’m not a special guardian – can you still help?
Yes, at Kinship we are here to support all kinship carers.
We have an online support group which you can join where you can share experiences and chat to other kinship carers. This support group is run and facilitated by Lesley.
There are also other local in-person peer support groups which are organised and led by kinship carers, which you can also join and they would love to welcome you.
If you’re a kinship carer in Hammersmith and Fulham, please get in touch with us at programmes@kinship.org.uk to find out more about our support group.
Celebrate Kinship Care Week 2024 in Hammersmith and Fulham!
Kinship Care Week is Mon 7 October until Sun 13 October 2024. It’s an opportunity to celebrate the incredible role you do! You can get involved by sharing your experiences.
Are you a kinship carer in Hammersmith and Fulham – do you need help or support?
Peer support groups are a great way to meet other kinship carers, share your experiences and exchange advice. Find your nearest group.
There are lots of different ways you can access help and advice from Kinship.
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