Our campaign: what we are doing
On behalf of grandchildren, we are campaigning to:
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amend the Children Act 1989 to enshrine in law the child’s right to secure and maintain a relationship with their safe grandparent.
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ensure that the leaders and practitioners in all childhood settings such as schools, day care, social care and extracurricular activities are aware of this issue, actively identifying and supporting it in their settings.
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ensure that all registered family mediators and relationship counsellors are trained in understanding and identifying the issue of forcibly separated grandchildren and grandparent and the impact on the grandchild’s psychological and physical development and wellbeing.
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ensure that all family courts’ assessments of children and young people include an assessment of the importance and contribution of a grandparent to those grandchildren’s lives.
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ensure that all registered family mediators and relationship counsellors are trained in understanding and identifying the issue of forcibly separated grandchildren and grandparent and the impact on the grandchild’s psychological and physical development and wellbeing.
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ensure that all family courts’ assessments of children and young people include an assessment of the importance and contribution of a grandparent to those grandchildren’s lives.
What have we done so far?
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We have researched and written the amendment to the Children Act 1989.
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Undertaken a survey in 2022 on the topic of grandchildren and grandparents who are actively prevented from continuing their relationship with each other.
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Been part of a national report launch on the issue of grandchildren and grandparents being forces to discontinue their relationship.
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Held an exhibition on the issue at the Houses of Parliament in 2024
What we are doing
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We are lobbying Parliament to secure legal, policy and practice change.
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We are working with leading lawyers and the Law School at Leeds Beckett University to secure legal and policy-based analysis to inform the above change.
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We are piloting new ways of working with grandchildren and their families to practically and sensitively facilitate the grandchild-grandparent relationship in the context of the adults’ relationship breakdown.
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We are piloting new ways of agencies working with grandchildren and their families to avoid outcomes such as
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grandchildren being excluded from schools due to:
- handling a significant grief process in isolation and without support
- experiencing self-blame, confusion and embarrassment
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grandchildren experiencing educational difficulties due to:
- somatic symptoms of unsupported loss, grief, anxiety and depression e.g. stomach ache, tiredness
- educational changes e.g. school reluctance, drop in performance or interest
- behaviour changes e.g. acting-out, withdrawal, insomnia
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grandparents being cautioned or arrested for sending a grandchild birthday gifts
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grandchild-grandparent contact requiring informal ‘safeguarding supervision’ when they are seeing their other grandchildren unsupervised.