Alice and her two grandchildren, Michael, aged 12, and Henry, aged 7, were referred to Welcare by Henry’s primary school. When the two children were very young, due to their mother’s addiction issues, Children’s Social Services assessed that they could no longer remain in her care and Alice was given primary care of them and they have been living with her ever since under a Kinship Care Order.
Henry is a very active child and is also selectively mute. Alice was struggling to manage his behaviour in the family home, in particular his sleep routine, and wanted support in creating positive boundaries and routines for him and his brother. Alice herself was struggling with several complex health conditions and was unable to work. Although she was a wonderful carer to the children, due to being unable to work and because the children were in her care under a Kinship Care Order, she received no financial support for them so was unable to provide all essential items that the children needed.
The Family Support Worker worked with Alice on introducing positive strategies and techniques to help with routines and boundaries, as well as advice on how to support the children emotionally and encourage their self-esteem and self-confidence. When it came to exploring the children’s sleep routines it was noted that Michael was sleeping on a mattress on the bedroom floor, and Henry was sharing his grandmother’s bed. The family were all impacted by the lack of suitable beds, and this was having a detrimental effect on their physical and emotional wellbeing. Due to the family’s tight budget, they had been unable to afford new beds, however, Welcare was able to secure funding to purchase a set of bunk beds for the children. This meant that both the children could move back into their shared bedroom and have a bed each, and Alice got her bed and bedroom space back. The family were all able to get a much better night’s sleep, and Alice was able to begin to work with Welcare to improve the children’s sleep routines.
As Alice wasn’t receiving financial support for caring for the children, to help her become more financially stable, the Family Support Worker helped her complete an application for DLA benefits. As well as reviewing Alice’s benefits to help her in the future, Welcare was able to secure tickets through Merlin’s Magic Wand for the family to visit The London Aquarium, along with tickets to a theatre show, which gave them the opportunity to build some fun family memories together. They all thoroughly enjoyed both the family days out, particularly as they hadn’t been able to do these kinds of trips before because their budget was so tight.
To support Alice further with parenting and to give her tools to manage their behaviour and routines, Alice was signposted by the Family Support Worker to a local Kinship Carers support group, her local Carers Centre, and will be attending the next Strengthening Families, Strengthening Communities parenting programme facilitated by Welcare.
Since Welcare worked with the family, Henry’s School has reported seeing an improvement in his emotional wellbeing and behaviour, and when they see Alice she looks well and much happier. Before Welcare’s support Henry struggled to speak with adults at school and would only engage with other children, however, school has said that he is now starting to respond and engage in conversations with adults in school, which has been a huge help in his learning.
From working with Welcare Alice says that she is much more confident about managing routines and boundaries in the family home. She feels much less stressed and everyone in the family is feeling much happier and settled. Sleep, which was such a big issue for the whole family, has now significantly improved.
