UK
Troubled teens matched with ‘grandmentors’
Troubled teenagers will be matched with surrogate 'grandparents' as part
of a three year mentoring pilot developed by a government minister and a
volunteering charity.
The Grandmentors project is designed to prevent 14 to 19 year olds from
turning to crime and to help them improve their prospects by matching
them with trained senior volunteer mentors.
The project, developed by the minister for welfare reform Lord Freud,
will offer young people advice on career planning and getting back into
mainstream education. It will also support care leavers to adapt to
independent living.
Lord Freud approached volunteering charity CSV to take on the challenge
of establishing whether older people can mentor and support troubled
youngsters to make a smoother transition into adulthood. The objective
is to discover whether the traditional grandparenting role is an
effective basis for mentoring young people.
Lord Freud said the huge untapped resource of older people could
transform the lives of youngsters, many of whom don’t have someone
independent to talk to.
'I also think there’s huge potential in jumping a generation to help
tackle some of the serious problems facing young people in our society,'
he said at the launch of the scheme. 'I think it’s much harder to grow
up with so many competing pressures, but there are many older people who
could provide practical and emotional support.'
The pilot, which is financed with support from Lord Freud’s family
charity the JECDA Foundation, and Sir Harry Solomon, was launched
yesterday in London by the work and pension secretary Iain Duncan Smith.
The referral partners are Islington Youth Offending Service, Islington’s
Children’s Service and BSix College in Hackney.
There are 60 matches planned with ‘Grandmentors’ by 2013 and, if
successful, the project will expand nationwide.
Rosie Niven
15 June 2010
http://www.newstartmag.co.uk/news/article/2904/new-scheme-matches-troubled-teens-with-grandmentors
