The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-13110, in the name of Christine Grahame, on “Through Our Eyes”. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises what it considers the invaluable role of grandparents and other kinship carers throughout Scotland but, in particular, Grandparents Parenting Again and Kinship Carers (Midlothian), which was formed in 2005 and provides a listening ear, peer support, direction and guidance to kinship carers and the children they look after, carers who can find themselves raising children at a moment’s notice; commends the charity’s book, Through Our Eyes, which is a collection of stories and poems by individuals telling their unique experience of becoming kinship carers, stories such as I don’t want this, Where do I begin?, It was Only for a Couple of Weeks!, Our Precious Grandchildren, Life Changes, A Long Road Ahead, It’s Hard Thinking Back and the many heartfelt poems, and commends this book to all involved with the welfare of looked-after children for the insight that it brings to the trials and sacrifices of the kinship carers but more importantly their selflessness and love of the children and young people they find themselves caring for, often with hardly a moment’s warning.
17:08
I thank all those who supported the motion, the authors of the booklet “Through Our Eyes”, which is the product of kinship carers who took part in a creative writing course, and all kinship carers in Midlothian—many of whom are here—and across Scotland. Without them, many children would be without the love, support and guidance that are essential to childhood.
As at 31 July 2014, there were more than 15,500 looked-after children. From 2013, there has been a decrease, but that gives an indication of the number of families who are affected.
I want to focus away from figures and statistics and on the impact on the carers as described in “Through Our Eyes”. The best thing that I can do is read extracts from it. I will start with a passage entitled, “Where Do I Begin?”. We are told:
“Life, as we knew it, changed and ‘normal’ routine became a series of meetings, Core Groups, Looked After Children Reviews, Children’s Hearings and Child Protection. Jargon such as parallel planning, rehabilitation and Section 11 Residency Order was commonplace at the meetings.
It was presumed that I understood the purpose of each different meeting, presumed that I understood Social Work terminology, presumed that I would make myself available for every meeting and for Social Work visits, presumed that I was coping fine. I cannot count the number of times I was told I was ‘doing a great job’. I was not in control of my life anymore!”
It continues, under the heading, “And Life Went On”:
“Now we are almost 8 years down the line I cannot imagine what my life would be like if I were not raising my grandson.”
It goes on to say:
“Was it the life I would have chosen? - NO WAY!
Would I ever change it? - NO WAY!”
Another extract called “I Don’t Want This”, reads:
“Well, my family are fine, strong and supportive we will deal with this, but I don’t want this. This mess that wasn’t my making. I could start at the very beginning and tell you about my daughter and her ‘problem’ or I could tell you about the hell of living with a drug addict, I could call ‘him’, the father, any vile name I could think of but this is not about them, and I will not make it about them. But I don’t want this!
This is about my grandson and about adoption; about him being adopted, this can’t be happening.”
Another one called “Our Precious Grandchildren”, which is about a court battle, reads:
“We went to court again and it was Dad against Mum. The judge told us it was only those that mattered who could stay, we told him that we had been looking after our grandchildren for the last year. The judge then told us we matter, at last we could have our say.
Mum said her piece, Dad said his and then we were able to speak. Our son was asked what he had to offer his children, he said ‘Discipline’. We were asked the same question, we replied, ‘Love’. Shortly after the hearing we were allowed to take the children away for a 3 week holiday to Canada. When we were there we found out we had won the case and could keep the children with us. It was a further 6 years after the court case that we found out we had section 11 and had Parental Rights and Responsibility. At last we could stop worrying about someone coming and taking away our Precious Grandchildren.”
Another story called “Life Changes”, which is from grandparents who take care of two granddaughters and a great grandson. The writer gives us a typical day, which some will recognise from their parenting:
“7.00am Up, wash, shave and have a cuppa
7.30am Waken up eldest granddaughter for school
7.45am Waken up great grandson and dress him
7.55am Take granddaughter round to bus stop then home
8.00am Waken up my wife and help her if needed
8.15am Waken up my other granddaughter
8.30am Take great grandson to school then home
9.00am Make sure other granddaughter is ready for taxi to school
9.15am Check on my wife to make sure she is okay”.
The rest of the day is all organised around the children. He goes on:
“My days are not what I imagined they would be like at this stage of my life. It is exhausting at times and sometimes I feel my life is no longer my own. But when I think back, I remember I was working so hard when my own children were growing up, I missed a lot. Now that I have my grandchildren, it’s like having a second chance. I can now honestly say I enjoy our lives together and truly love seeing them develop into our next generation.”
Those are all stories from the heart. Some of them tell, as many will recognise, of sons or daughters who become drug addicts or have relationships with drug addicts and the children who go to the grandparents are often quite damaged and traumatised. These are grandparents who were looking at a different stage of their life. Some of them had to sell their house and some of them had to give up jobs, but not one of them thought that they would turn their back on the children.
We do to some extent take those people for granted. I do not mean that we mean to take them for granted, but the thing about this book, “Through Our Eyes”, which I found extremely moving, is that there is guilt; there are people who wish for a time when they did not have that life but would now never change it; and there are people who were thrown into the situation when they thought that their life was going to take a different tack but would never have turned their back on their grandchildren.
A story entitled “Now” says:
“I have been a Kinship Carer for 15 years, but we had our Grandchildren a year before that ... Over the years I have heard so many things that have been done to ... Grandparents and the children through alcohol and drugs. But with all the things that happen to us, and against us, as Grandparents, we all become stronger.
The Grandparents Group lay on events and outings of the children and we all go too because we’re just big kids ourselves ... I feel like we are all one big family helping each other.”
I know that Grandparents Parenting Again and Kinship Carers Midlothian want social workers and trainee social workers to read these stories and to remember that, as the first story illustrates, the jargon that is put in front of the grandparents is bewildering, to be aware of the time that the process takes and to bear in mind grandparents’ concern that, in spite of having looked after the children for years, they might be taken away from them.
This book is essential reading. I recommend it to parliamentarians and to anyone who is involved with kinship carers through the various agencies.
17:16
I congratulate Christine Grahame on securing the debate. I have signed the motion but, because I gave the wrong motion number, my name does not appear in the list of those who have done so. That should be corrected tomorrow.
I also congratulate the group, which has been meeting in Midlothian for quite a long time. I commend its powerful and moving publication, which I was pleased to read this morning. Christine Grahame’s recommendation that all social workers should read it is a good one. We all talk about learning from the experience of service users, whether they be patients in the health service or those who use council services. That principle is correct. We should all learn from people who have experienced a system, and social workers could certainly profit from reading this publication.
Of course, in paying tribute to these particular grandparents, we should pay tribute to all grandparents who are kinship carers, and to all grandparents more widely. As a grandparent myself, I totally understand the amazingly strong bond that exists between a grandparent and a grandchild. In my experience, it is as strong as the bond that exists between a parent and a child. Grandparents in general play an important part in the lives of their grandchildren, and many of them provide childcare and other support. We should remember that as part of our consideration today.
However, clearly, being a grandparent kinship carer is of a different order of magnitude and many particular challenges and problems face grandparents in that situation. Those issues are powerfully documented in the publication that we are discussing, but others have written about them, too. For example, Citizens Advice Scotland did some work on the issue and highlighted problems such as having to give up work; arranging and paying for childcare; dealing with financial problems; the need for respite care; and pressure on the grandparents’ relationship. Those issues have been documented in studies, but there is a particular truth that we get when we read the stories of grandparent kinship carers themselves.
As it happens, a constituent who is a grandparent and is just beginning to become a kinship carer came to my constituency office yesterday and outlined some of the challenges that she faces. For example, she is working full time, so how will she manage to look after the child? Obviously, one of her key demands is for some help with childcare. I am helping to investigate that issue with her and I hope that we can make progress on it.
Christine Grahame talked about there being 13,000 looked-after children. Of course, many kinship carers are looking after a looked-after child. Equally, there are many other children in kinship care who are not looked after in the formal sense of being looked after by a local authority, such as the grandchild of the woman to whom I spoke yesterday.
Clearly, there is a particular issue here in that, although looked-after children have certain rights by way of entitlements that the kinship carer will receive, those who look after children who are not in that category really have no rights at all, and the support that they get from local authorities is entirely discretionary. Perhaps the minister will speak about that in her winding-up speech. I realise that there are regulations coming on the back of the recently passed Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 that will give certain rights to kinship carers looking after children who are not formally looked after, and hopefully that will improve the situation. At present, however, although support can be given through the use of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 or the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, we know that it is entirely discretionary. The quicker the regulations are made, the better.
Once again, I pay tribute to Christine Grahame and, even more important, to the grandparents who have produced this magnificent publication, “Through Our Eyes”.
17:20
I thank my colleague Christine Grahame for securing valuable debating time to discuss this important issue.
The work of kinship carers is not always fully understood and, all too often, it is overlooked entirely. However, the love and care that they provide is invaluable, not only to the children they look after but to society more generally, and it allows some of our most vulnerable children to remain within their wider family instead of going into institutionalised care or to a foster family.
Kinship care is often far more challenging than many people realise, and it impacts enormously on the carer’s life. For a grandparent, it can sometimes be quite daunting, particularly when they believe that their life is going to go along a different path from the one that they had perhaps envisaged.
It is wrong to assume that kinship care is simply a normal family obligation, with near-seamless transitions from one household to another. Indeed, the circumstances surrounding the need for kinship care can often be incredibly complex and difficult to deal with, both for the child and for their carer.
As the book “Through Our Eyes” successfully explains, kinship carers can often find the role that they have assumed extremely demanding, and they simply do not have the knowledge or support to cope, at least initially. Children may experience mental health problems or be traumatised as a result of domestic violence, bereavement or neglect.
As Christine Grahame makes clear in her motion, and as stories with titles such as “I Don’t Want This”, “It was Only for a Couple of Weeks!” “Where Do I Begin?” and “A Long Road Ahead” show, this compelling and heartfelt book describes how kinship care affects people who have to deal with issues on a day-to-day basis and it provides a unique insight into the challenges that kinship carers face.
It is therefore important that we as a Parliament do what we can to recognise and confront that reality and to support kinship carers as they manage in what are often very difficult circumstances. In this vein, I make special mention of Children 1st, recognising the vital work that it carries out to support kinship carers through its national helpline and national kinship care service, which offers advice, support and information to kinship carers. It is through its consultations with kinship carers that we can build a picture of what level of service and support is required to improve on the current situation.
I am confident that the Scottish Government will continue to support Children 1st and other organisations and, most importantly, the kinship carers themselves in the excellent work that they do in the years ahead, as I am sure the minister will confirm.
Although there is clearly a need to strengthen and expand the support that is available to kinship carers, particularly befriending services and financial support, I am pleased to note that the Scottish Government has been moving in the right direction over the years. Indeed, the current Scottish Government was the first to introduce kinship care payments. The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 provides for the first time specific legal entitlements to support for kinship carers and for eligible children themselves.
Financial support is clearly of great importance when we consider the increased costs of keeping a dependent child and the fact that 43 per cent of kinship carers have to give up work to fulfil the role, which undoubtedly causes financial strain. It is my understanding that the Scottish Government is currently undertaking a financial review of support for kinship carers to consider how best to support kinship care families in the future.
Unfortunately, despite assurances from the United Kingdom Government during the welfare reform process that it would exempt kinship carers from welfare reform changes for up to a year after they come into effect—including sanctions, return-to-work interviews, the bedroom tax and so on—many of them are affected. I therefore hope that, along with our colleagues at Westminster, we can compel the UK Government to look again at the issue and recognise the different legislative frameworks for kinship care north and south of the border, ensuring that families get all the benefits that they are entitled to on time.
Again, I thank my colleague Christine Grahame for securing the debate, and I look forward to exploring further how we can help those who sacrifice so much to help others.
17:24
I, too, commend Christine Grahame for securing the debate and for her moving readings from “Through Our Eyes”. As a grandmother, I am very much aware of the role and influence that grandparents can have in families and their key position in assisting and supporting parents, who often lead busy lives and at times require respite from day-to-day parenting.
When my children were young, I was fortunate enough to work for just two mornings a week, and my mum loved to look after them; she used her significant storytelling skills to enthral and sometimes terrify them with tales of fairies and witches. She loved her involvement with them and they loved having her around. My husband and I were able to enjoy the occasional weekend away by ourselves when my parents-in-law had the children to stay, which I suspect was more of a treat for the young ones than it was for the oldies, but they never admitted that they were pleased to hand their young charges back to us.
However, many grandparents today have serious childcare responsibilities, which they sometimes find stressful and onerous. That is at a time when they have retired from work and had anticipated a life of their own, with time to do things that were beyond their reach when they were working. Grandparents are often the unsung kinship carers and they should be championed and recognised as vital components in the growth and wellbeing of children and young adults.
Christine Grahame’s motion is entitled “Through Our Eyes”, which as we know refers to a truly inspiring collection of poems and stories of kinship carers who have been at the coalface of looking after children in a number of circumstances. Having read the rave reviews, not least the one by Christine Grahame, I will definitely put the book on my list for summer reading, as I have not yet read it.
As a grandparent, I know the importance of the presence of grannies and granddads in everyday life, and I count myself lucky that I have lived to see my older grandchildren grow up and to see the newest arrival, who will celebrate his first birthday next month. However, I have not had to make the real sacrifices that many kinship carers make to take care of their grandchildren.
The charity Grandparents Parenting Again and Kinship Carers in Midlothian, which is now in its 10th year, provides an invaluable service to people, as Christine Grahame described. Similarly, in my home town, the work of Family Law Aberdeen in Rose Street stretches across all areas, including advice about the role of grandparents when families experience divorce or separation. Sadly, grandparents are often caught in the crossfire of a separation, which leads to children not being able to see their grandmothers and grandfathers.
However, I know kinship carers who have literally been left holding the baby when their offspring have hit a crisis, whether that is through drugs or alcohol or a violent domestic relationship. Grandparents step in to take children to a safe place in an emergency and when they are not secure at home. Because those grandparents are not in a formal caring relationship, they are left without help or support in a situation that might not be resolved for years. They might have to give up their work and their lives for their grandchildren. They suffer financial hardship and stress, which can endanger their relationships. However, as Christine Grahame said, they do not abandon the children whom they love and care for.
I welcome the publication last year of the National Family Mediation leaflet that addresses how grandparents can help their grandchildren to cope with their lives after parents have separated. I also read with interest a recently published report by Grandparents Plus that highlights the fact that, since the late 1990s, grandparents have increasingly contributed to the upbringing of their grandchildren but without the financial means that come from being registered as a formal carer of looked-after children.
Figures that go back to 2010 show that one in every 100 children live with a grandparent because they cannot live with their birth parent for some reason. At the same time, more than 1 million children in the UK are denied contact with at least one of their grandparents. I have incredible sympathy for grandparents who voluntarily give up their time to look after their grandchildren without the necessary back-up from the state. If we want to reduce the benefits bill and get parents into work, we must think about assisting grandparents who step into childminding roles.
All members of the Parliament and many outside it recognise the enormous contribution to society that kinship carers in general make. More emphasis needs to be placed on respite and allowing such carers much-needed time out from looking after loved ones, which can be a pressured job. I again thank Christine Grahame for lodging the motion and allowing us to celebrate these unsung heroes.
17:29
I echo other members’ thanks to Christine Grahame for bringing this important issue before Parliament. She has allowed us to highlight to Parliament and to the rest of Scotland the great work that is carried out by Grandparents Parenting Again and Kinship Carers in Midlothian and by all kinship carers and kinship care groups throughout Scotland. All the kinship carers should be saluted and thanked for the work that they do.
Christine Grahame has also introduced this librarian to a lovely collection of stories that I did not know. It was a delight to read—sometimes quite difficult, but informative.
The Scottish Government believes that the best place for a child to live whenever they need to leave their birth parents is in the wider family, if it is safe and in the child’s best interests to do so. That allows the child to retain a sense of family, identity and heritage and helps them to feel safe, protected and valued.
Many children and young people in Scotland are living in kinship care arrangements; Christine Grahame highlighted some of the numbers. In 2014, 4,181 looked-after children were living with family and friends, and we estimate that as many as 15,000 non-looked-after children may be living in informal kinship care arrangements. Those numbers highlight how important kinship carers are and how much gratitude we owe them.
The Scottish Government recognises the crucial role that kinship carers play in providing secure, stable and nurturing homes. Kinship carers who take on that responsibility are providing a valuable service and it is therefore vital that we provide them with the right support at the right time to care for the children.
That is why, since 2007, we as a Government have done much to address kinship carers’ specific needs. I will highlight just a few of our actions. We established the Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009, which for the first time gave local authorities the power to pay an allowance to kinship carers of looked-after children.
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 enhances the support that is available to kinship carers of non-looked-after children who obtain an order under section 11(1) of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 that gives them parental responsibilities and rights, residence or guardianship. That will now be called a kinship care order. That perhaps addresses some of Malcolm Chisholm’s questions, as it means that there will for the first time be a specific legal entitlement to support for kinship carers of non-looked-after eligible children, subject to a kinship care order, and an entitlement for the eligible children themselves, which is important to realise.
The Government believes that support for kinship care, as set out in the 2014 act—and subsequently through secondary legislation—will make a positive difference to kinship carers and the children in their care. However, we recognise that more can be done to support kinship carers and those in their care and that greater fairness is needed in the provision of allowances. That is why we are reviewing the financial support that is available to kinship carers with a view to tailoring support and tackling inconsistencies across Scotland.
Kenneth Gibson raised the issue of benefits. I am sure that he knows this, but it is worth putting it on the record that, a couple of years ago, the Scottish Government managed to work with the Department for Work and Pensions to get a benefits disregard for kinship carers so that they did not lose out on their local authority allowances. I absolutely agree that we have to continue to be vigilant and to work with the UK Government to ensure that any changes in benefits do not impact negatively on our kinship carers.
I was interested in the first reading that Christine Grahame made from the book “Through Our Eyes” because it allows me to highlight the further support for kinship care families that we have provided. She talked about the need for jargon busting and how, especially when people are new to being kinship carers, there is a maze for them to work through.
Since 2011, the Scottish Government has funded—to the tune of about £1 million—Citizens Advice Scotland, Children 1st and Mentor UK to deliver information, advice and support to kinship carers. That has ensured that hundreds of kinship care families throughout Scotland have had access to the right support at the right time for them. I believe that I am on solid ground in saying that that support is out there to help kinship carers.
All those policies and programmes demonstrate how much the Scottish Government values kinship carers, and they show that we are committed to tackling inequalities and ensuring that kinship care families are fully supported to carry out their important role.
As I said, “Through Our Eyes” is a wonderful book. It not only demonstrates the difficulties that kinship carers can encounter but emphasises the happiness, laughter and joy that the role can bring, as evidenced in the fifth extract that Christine Grahame read out.
Will the minister add her support to the call from me and from kinship carers for social workers to be made aware of the book? It would enable them to understand that many kinship carers keep quiet, when they are dealing with the professionals, about a lot of stuff that the professionals ought to know about.
Ms Grahame got in just before I came to the librarian part of my speech. I believe that the book will become part of the body of evidence for practitioners and for students in social work. As I am a librarian, members will have heard me talking about evidence in peer-reviewed journals and random controlled trials. However, the body of evidence on kinship care must include real-life stories to enable practitioners to understand what it is really like to be a kinship carer.
Again, I commend the book and I salute kinship carers throughout Scotland for the role that they play in ensuring that the children and young people in their care are safe, secure, nurtured and loved and in enabling them to go on and lead happy and successful lives.
I thank the minister and all the members present for taking part in this important debate.
Meeting closed at 17:36.Previous
Decision Time