Wednesday 31st July 2 - 3pm 

Special Guardian’s are adults who care for a child who is unable to live with their birth parents.  They are called Special Guardian’s because a Judge has made the arrangement legal by granting something called a ‘Special Guardianship Order’.  A Special Guardian might be a family member (grandparent, older brother or sister, auntie or uncle), a family friend or a foster carer.  In Blackpool the number of Special Guardian’s is increasing, but they told us that things could be done better, and not enough support was being offered.  About a year ago, the Resilience Revolution was asked to facilitate setting up a Special Guardian Support Group, and over this year, the group have met monthly and had contact with 37 Special Guardians.

This workshop seeks to share the achievements of the group, what has worked well, and what plans we have for the coming year.  We will share how we aim to change the odds locally and nationally, offer peer support and learn together to increase resilience for young people, carers and their families.  We know from research that the role of Special Guardian’s is often misunderstood or invisible….we aim to shine a light on what it entails and how enabling resilient moves can help all those involved.