The Government has recently published a green paper on Families and Relationships in the UK. The aim of the paper is to identify the various ways advice and support can be made available to families across the country, to assist them in all their parenting and thus ensure better outcomes for both adults and the children.

Support for Stepfamilies

The paper recognises that stepfamilies are the fastest growing family type in the UK, with an estimated 30% of mothers expected to spend time in a stepfamily before they're 45. The paper accepts that families are now much more complex, with children experiencing family changes and acquiring more step and half sibling relationships of various kinds. However research has shown that while the process of this change may be de-stabilising in the short term, the eventual outcome can be better for the children than what has come before. As such the governments aim is to ensure that all families have access to high quality information, advice and support of various kinds as and when they need it, which they can use to manage their own lives and improve the wellbeing of their family.

The green paper is extensive and details the types of services currently available in addition to their future plans. If you would like to read the full report please click here Support for All - the Families and Relationships Green Paper Support for All - the Families and Relationships Green Paper

Your views needed !

The Government is now asking for comments and feedback on their proposals so this is an ideal opportunity to make our voices heard. Although stepfamilies are recognised in the report as I'm sure you're all aware there are precious few services aimed at helping and supporting stepfamilies - and nothing new is identified in the paper. I plan to write a response to the paper but this would carry much more weight if it reflected the views of as many stepfamilies as possible, rather than just my own. Please take the time to think about what services would help you and your family. Would it be access to free or affordable stepparenting courses, or a free advice line, local support groups, or support via websites such as Happy Steps? We're trying to do all we can at Happy Steps but without funding this is often difficult. This is your chance to make a difference - please don't miss the opportunity.

How?

You can either send your comments directly to us , register your views via the facebook group (Happy Steps - the group for stepfamilies) by clicking on the link to the right, or alternatively send your views independently to the government via the following email. supportforall.consultation@dcsf.gov.uk

New Happy Steps Clinic

We've had lots of interest from people wanting to attend the stepfamily workshops - which is fantastic! but unfortunately it'll take a little while for us to roll out the service across the UK. In the meantime we've decided to offer a 'clinic' to offer advice and support for those who feel they need a little help. The service works by allowing you to call a preset number at a given time. You can then join in a conference call with other stepparents who've dialled in, as well as Dr Lisa. If you would like to join the next call, simply register with us and let us know if there is any topic you would also like to cover and we'll try and include it. There is no charge for attending the clinic- you simply pay for the telephone call (4.3p per minute). Click here to register for the next call and receive the dial in number and code.