Reframing Support for Families
In November 2020, a report was published: What about me? Reframing Support for Families Following Parental Separation. [Family Solutions Group 2020]
This report was hugely supported by those working with separating families and the President of the Family Division, who said: “This report brings together the various lines of thinking of recent years aimed at finding a better way to achieve good co-parenting between separated parents.”
One of the recommendations was for better signposting for separating families. It became clear to us, those at the coal face, that to enable this to happen, we needed to pull together and provide the information and resources that we all knew individually existed but could not be located in one place.
With the assistance of the local authorities, we were able to build the SSFA Hampshire & IOW Alliance website, which enables access to many, if not all, of the resources a family member may need to understand and learn about.
About the SSFA Hampshire & IOW Objectives
We wanted to provide:
- A website which promotes child welfare and a cooperative parenting approach where safe to do so and where not safe – to ensure the appropriate signposting is available
- Access to information and direct services for children
- Mechanisms for the child’s voice to be heard at the time when decisions are being made which affect them
- Access to information and direct services for parents about how to parent following separation
- A consideration of the emotional state of the parents and the impact this has on their parenting decisions
- A multi-disciplinary response, involving therapists, parenting specialists, mediators and legal services. These do not form part of the administration of justice and currently there is no framework for the provision of suitable services, clearly signposted and accessible to all
We hope we have met this challenge and you all find this website helpful.
