Training Reviews: Mind the Gap – Resource Pack – Protecting our grandchildren from drugs and alcohol

 Mind the Gap – Resource Pack -Protecting our grandchildren from drugs and alcohol
 Mentor, in collaboration with Grandparents Plus and Adfam
 Free from Mentor

 Star rating: 4/5

This seven-part pack provides advice and information for grandparents providing full-time care for their grandchildren, whose lives may have been affected by drug and alcohol use by their parents, writes Robert Bullard.

The material is informative, well-written and clearly presented, and although their focus is for those affected by these issues, some has wider relevance and will be of use to others as well. For example, there is a directory of regional support services, and a leaflet with sound and research-backed policy recommendations relating to the issues facing grandparents.

Particularly good is the powerful 20-minute DVD. In it a handful of grandparents articulate the issues they face as a result of becoming second-time parents and how it has affected their lives, but also the rewards that looking after children again has brought them.

The DVD gives a useful introduction to those wanting to know more about kinship care provided by grandparents. But it can also be used as training material for professionals working with grandparents and those working in kinship care.

For organisations who want to do more, the pack also includes a checklist and service assessment tool through which organisations can reflect on whether their services adequately cater for grandparents. There are also ideas and pointers as to what they can do and where they can go for help.

Robert Bullard is a freelance social care journalist