Kindred

Our service is available to parents and carers of children with additional support needs aged 0 – 18 years.

Our practice model is based on the following four principles:

1. Parent-led: Kindred is a parent-led organisation.  Many of our staff are parents of children with disabilities.  Everything that we do, including the way we run our organisation, is driven by the goal of meeting the needs of parents.

2. Listening: Information and services are not the whole answer to caring for a child with disabilities or additional support needs.  Parents and carers need to be offered the chance to talk about the experience of disability on family life.  Our practice model includes recognising that when parents or carers feel ‘acknowledged’ they are more able to cope with the challenges of caring.

3. Building self-confidence: Even the most articulate and able of parents can struggle to express themselves when it comes to care of their child.  An important part of our role is to support the parent to develop confidence about caring for their child.  We usually provide a high level of support at the beginning, but encourage parents to take a greater role over time.

4. Non-judgemental: We see that parents are often judged and criticised because of circumstances beyond their control, including the child’s disabilty.  We actively avoid making assumptions about anyone who needs our service and maintain respect for parents at all times.  Parents who use our service are doing their best to care for their child, often under very difficult circumstances.