Training and workshops

The 2-day Prepare to Care course helps carers learn and understand the Special Guardianship Order (SGO) process.

It covers support available to you post order. It also highlights some of the behaviours you may see as the children grow up and what to look out for.

On the second day, a special guardian shares their experiences and answer questions. 

The course is run by the Kinship Support team. For more details, contact us.

We offer a rolling programme of training courses. Some are one-off sessions and some run over 2 to 12 weeks.

Longer courses give an in-depth exploration on a topic.

The courses help carers understand challenging behaviours, such as:

• anger
• rejection
• attachment

We offer courses around the county and promote them through our monthly newsletter.

We also offer a range of therapeutic support courses.

Watch our video

Kinship Carer Sue shares how training has helped her care for her granddaughter

Workshops are less formal than training courses. They run for two hours and are set on a topic such as:

• family time
• teen healthy relationships

A member of the Kinship Support team will host (sometimes alongside kinship carers) and talk on a topic.

Carers attending are active participants, sharing experiences and supporting each other. Everyone works together to come up with suggestions and tools for the whole group.

We invite carers to suggest topics, providing a space to discuss what is impacting them.

During kinship care week, the team runs a whole-day conference. The aim is to provide the chance to network, plus workshops that inspire, empower and educate.

The most recent event covered:

• exploitation
• special educational needs and disabilities
• West Sussex Virtual School
• youth emotional support