Supporting all families to support all children.
Families in the 2020s come in all shapes and sizes, and often have common challenges ranging from how to support their children’s education, dealing with the effects of childhood trauma, divorce/step-parenting, sickness and death, behavioural issues, special educational needs/disabilities and the children’s welfare system.
Most support networks are focused on particular types of issues, or particular types of families.
FSG recognises that different types of families have more in common with each other than differences.
We also recognise that one of the most valued sources of support is peer support, through informal support groups where people can feel listened to, get local advice, and recognise that they are not alone.
We believe that making support groups more inclusive enables more of them to flourish, and that bringing different types of families together with common challenges enables mutual understanding and appreciation.
We aim to provide support to families of all types, including traditional families, single-parent families, step-families, foster-families, kinship families and adoptive families.
Our vision is a system where all families can get the support that they need to optimise the life outcomes for children and young people.
We aim to do this by:
Enabling peer support
Providing authoritative signposting to help families to navigate through the various systems
Providing expert advice
Influencing policy and practice by providing thought leadership on the difficult issues
Research on innovative approaches