Big Lottery Fund
Printable version E-mail this to a friend

Kinship care in Glasgow to receive half a million pounds in Lottery funding

The Big Lottery Fund Scotland today (30 JULY) announces its latest package of funding worth nearly £3 million to seven projects across Scotland. Children and young people in kinship care will benefit from a grant of over £450,000 from the Big Lottery Fund’s Investing in Communities programme.

Recent research estimates that one in 77 children is in kinship care with this figure likely to increase. Kinship carers are grandparents, aunts, uncles and family friends, who care for children because their natural parents are unable to do so. The Notre Dame Centre in Glasgow was established in 1931 to support the social, psychological and educational wellbeing of all children, young people and families experiencing emotional difficulties.

Today’s grant of £477,799 for its Direct Support for Children and Carers in Kinship Care project will offer play therapy sessions and the assistance of a social worker to help children and young people develop coping strategies to overcome the issues they have experienced. Kinship carers will also receive social worker support and participate in group sessions, to support them in their caring role.

Clinical Manager, Gail Taylor, said: “We at the Notre Dame Centre are delighted to receive this amazing grant from the Big Lottery Fund. This will enable us to provide therapeutic support to children and young people in kinship care, who have experienced very distressing and traumatic events in their lives while living with parents who were not able to provide safe care for them.  The children have often moved from place to place and have no stability or predictable adults in their life.  This grant will offer us the means and support to respond to the significant number of children in kinship care and their carers. The funding will enable us to offer a quick response and provide early intervention this work.”

Announcing the awards, Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair, Maureen McGinn, said: “Investing in Communities funds projects which help people in real need now, as well as projects which focus on prevention. It aims to support people at key times of change to make their lives better for the future. The groups funded today, including the Notre Dame Centre, reflect this ambition so we are delighted to award these seven projects which are making a big difference where it is needed most.”

Full list of Investing in Ideas awards.

Further information

For more information regarding this release please contact:
Lorna McNiven, Communications Officer
Big Lottery Fund Scotland
0141 242 1451 |
lorna.mcniven@biglotteryfund.org.uk

For more information on Big Lottery Fund Scotland (including programmes and grants awards):
Visit the website:
www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland
Ask Big http://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk/help/scotland
Or call Big Advice Scotland: 0300 1237110

Notes to editors

  • The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
  • BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 BIG has awarded close to £6bn.
  • The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
  • Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £30 billion has now been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
  • The Scotland Committee has been making Big Lottery Fund decisions on Scottish projects since March 2007.  As well as taking devolved decisions on Lottery spending, the Committee, led by Chair, Maureen McGinn, has and will continue to play a strategic role in the future direction of BIG in Scotland.
  • The Big Lottery Fund is investing in Scotland’s communities through its Investing in Communities portfolio, as well as the small grants schemes Awards for All, Investing in Ideas, Communities and Families and 2014 Communities.


Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story