Campaigns Kindred campaigns on behalf of parents of children with complex needs. Some of our campaigns are in collaboration with other organisations such as The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC). With the SCSC we have been campaigning to reduce waiting times for CAMHS (Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services), and are also supporting a campaign to reinstate a bursary for trainee educational psychologists. We have been working with Scottish Government NHS Scotland National Services Division and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland to campaign for secure inpatient care for children and young people with learning disability. Kindred is also campaigning for more special school provision across Scotland. Families from Kindred have also met with Tam Baillie, the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland, to discuss complex care packages. The first meeting was in November 2014 and we will continue to campaign for these families over the foreseeable future. Below are some of the media articles reflecting some of our campaigning work. More media articles and information can also be found on the SCSC website. Special Needs Schooling Campaign- Families of Children with Complex Needs Recently, Kindreds director Sophie Pilgrim has been working to promote full time places for children in special schools to get back to classes. Sophie has taken to the airways to champion the rights of families whose children have been unable to attend their places of education for the last year and campaigned tirelessly with the Scottish Government and educational leaders. Sophie talked to parents and carers and other organisations across Scotland to highlight the importance of a return to school and vaccines for school staff. Getting back to school also gives families respite from in many cases 24/7 care of their family member. You can read more about this in the article below, Covid-19 and Families of Children with Complex Needs. You can read more on the BBC website about how the timeline of the return to school story unfolded here Covid-19 and Families of Children with Complex Needs During the pandemic, Kindred has been working with families to be their voice and has produced a report, Covid 19 and the Families of Children with Complex Needs, which is a response to the Scottish Government, outlining the devastating impact on families of children with high level medical needs, particularly with loss of support from schools. Many of our parents have been struggling with 5 hours of broken sleep a night 110 families provided with advocacy support by Kindred since 1 April 2020. Information from this work is used to design the survey and telephone interview. 42 parents complete the online survey. 16 parents who took part in the online survey are followed up with a semi-structured telephone interview lasting around 30 minutes. Summary Even in this small survey respondents spoke of a wide range of experiences directly related to the pandemic in addition to caring for a child with very high level medical needs. Some had struggled with their own medical treatment while others have lost relatives to Covid-19 and to other conditions. They had experienced difficulties with basic needs such as shopping and getting medications… “We spent so long counting down until this was all over. Really hard because goal posts kept moving. We had to change our mindset to living like this”. Parent Did you know: Top 10 things which families said helped them through Covid 1. Working together with Family2. Having a garden3. Friends and carers4. Carers coming to the home5. Support from School6. Help with shopping7. Healthcare professionals8. Help to collect prescriptions9. Social Media10. Social work If you would like to share your own story, contact us via our Tell us your story form. If you have campaign ideas, why don't you contact us and start a conversation or head over to our social media to hear our latest news.