Community Team

Kindred’s service is available to parents and carers of children with complex needs aged 0 – 18 years.

Our Community Team is based at our head office in the West End of Edinburgh. The team includes Mhari, Barbara and Anne, and responds to around 200 enquiries every year via telephone or email from families. We would expect a child to qualify for high rate Child Disability Payment/Disability Living Allowance to be eligible for our service.

The Community Team can provide information and support on a wide range of subjects including:

Support and information with regard to education and school placements
Applications for trust grant funds for specialist equipment and grants required for caring
Assistance with applying for benefits such as Child Disability Payment (previously known as Disability Living Allowance)
Advocacy support for statutory meetings with health – including Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS), social work, education and housing

The staff have a wealth of knowledge for you to tap into and every response is tailored to your individual circumstances. If we don’t know the answer, we will find out who to ask.

The Community Team can also offer a block of 5 free counselling sessions to parents whose children are at The Royal Hospital for Children and Young People in Edinburgh, on either an inpatient, or outpatient basis. Our advocacy staff and our counsellors have expertise in providing support to family members of children with a wide range of conditions including autism.

Please contact our Community Team on: 0800 031 5793 or by emailing: [email protected]

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the following funders:

Official logo for The Henry Smith Charity

Logo: RS Macdonald Charitable Trust

Latest

Press Release: People's Postcode Trust Award for Kindred

Players of People’s Postcode Lottery enable Kindred Advocacy to support parents of children with complex needs in Scotland! We are delighted to announce that the People’s Postcode Trust, a grant-giving charity funded entirely by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, have awarded Kindred £23,708 to support the running of the charity over the next year.
Kindred receives donation from Walter Scott & Partners Ltd Giving Group

Kindred are delighted to announce receipt of a £15,000 donation from the Walter Scott & Partners Ltd Giving Group.
Kindred Fife receives grant towards supporting parent mental health

Kindred’s Fife service is delighted that their project has been supported by the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund through Fife Voluntary Action and Scottish Government, with a recent grant of £3000.
E-PAtS and positive support for Kindred families

Kindred, along with NHS Lothian and Tizard, University of Kent , has recently started to offer Early Positive Approaches to Support (E-PAtS) groups to families, developed for parent/carers of a child aged 0 to 5 years with learning disability, global developmental delay or autism.

Exceptional Families Project

The Exceptional Families Project (EFP) is a partnership between Kindred and Children with Exceptional Healthcare Needs, National Managed Clinical Network (CEN NMCN). Any parent of a child with exceptional healthcare needs is welcome to join the project.
Fife Team

Kindred's Fife Team is based in Dunfermline, providing a service throughout Fife to parents of children with complex needs including advocacy, information and emotional support.
Hospital Team

Kindred are delighted to have moved to the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, near Little France in Edinburgh. Previously we provided information, advocacy and emotional support to parents of children with complex needs from the "Sick Kids" Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh for over 30 years.

Social Work Assessment (Section 23)

If your child has a disability or long-term health condition then you are likely to require additional help with family life. The Social Work department of your local authority has a duty to assess the needs of your child. This is called a Section 23 Assessment.
Our vision and aims

Kindred's vision is to transform the lives of families of children with complex needs in Scotland.
Accessing grants

Details of different funds and grant-giving trusts/charities that you can approach if needed, and some handy hints on applying.
Benefits

There are many different sources of financial support available to children with disabilities. Kindred may be able to support parents to apply for some of these benefits.
Contact us

You can contact Kindred by phone, email and by post.
Education

Children with additional needs may need extra support in school, or you may feel that your child needs to attend a different school provision such as a language unit, another mainstream school or a special school. Depending on where you live, Kindred may be able to assist you with finding the right provision for your child.
Fife Team

Kindred's Fife Team is based in Dunfermline, providing a service throughout Fife to parents of children with complex needs including advocacy, information and emotional support.
Child’s Planning Meeting (and YPPM)

CPM stands for Child’s Planning Meeting and YPPM stands for Young Person’s Planning Meeting.
Refer to us

For a referral please contact us by phone or email.
Our history

Kindred began supporting families in 1991 from the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh. We were known then as SNIP or Special Needs Information Point. We started with a founding team of two parents who each had a child with additional needs, keen to share their knowledge. Now we have a team of 12 staff over three bases in Scotland, and we are still a parent-led organisation.