Support groups working together?

As with all support groups and charities there are several different grandparents support groups, you would think it would be a good idea for everyone to join forces and work together, in my naivety I thought that once.

Aren't we all trying to support others in the same position as ourselves, raising awareness of denied contact in all its forms and most importantly fighting for the rights of over one million children in the UK.

The simple answer to that is yes we are, and here comes the but....... many support groups have a membership fee, and/or employ people to run the 'charity.'

If you are a large concern and need to employ staff the whole ethos of the group changes, very often the staff have no personal experience of denied contact and at the end of the day they are doing a job of work.

Sometimes the group may have some form of government funding, which inevitably changes the way in which the group is run etc.

This not a criticism, just fact.

If all the groups were working as one, our voices would be so much stronger and the fight for the rights of grandchildren would be very powerful, sadly the reasons given above prevent that happening.

Jane.

www.bristolgrandparentssupportgroup.co.uk