Supporting Children and Young People Living under a Special Guardianship Order
What is a special guardian order or SGO?
As a mentor part of my remit is to work with children under a special guardian order (SGO). An order made by the family court naming the guardians and granting parental responsibility for a child until they reach the age of 18. There can be a number of reasons why an SGO is needed and is due to birth parents being unable to look after their children requiring involvement of social care or other family members.
Supporting children who have previously been in care
Children who have an SGO may have experienced neglect, abuse or other forms of childhood trauma before coming into local authority care and then moving to SGO. Due to their previous childhood experiences, children that are being cared for by a special guardian may be at greater risk of challenges both within school and everyday life similar to those who have gone through the adoption process.
Working as a mentor, contact with special guardians can assist with tailoring the work with the child and helps to highlight what the child may be struggling with at home alongside the referral from the school. Special guardians can also be facing struggles of their own due to financial pressures, changes to lifestyle particularly for grandparents and difficulties in managing neurodiversity in children in-addition to the related impacts of trauma.
How can mentoring help?
Mentoring can provide an opportunity for a child to build a trusting rapport with an adult who provides a consistent and supportive relationship. A mentor can work with children on a one-to-one basis within a school setting and help to improve emotional well-being, social skills and stability. Sometimes through longer term work, a mentor helps children navigate complex emotional difficulties providing a non-judgmental space assisting with problem solving, goal setting and helping with communication needs.
A mentor is not a therapist; however, they are able to use therapeutic resources such as sand tray, modelling dough and story sacks helping a child with behavioural difficulties stemming from early life experiences. Through tactile and therapeutic resources, it enables a child to work at their own pace and hopefully improve emotional regulation, build friendship skills, increasing self-esteem and fostering resilience.
It is great to see children who have initially attended sessions and struggled to engage or even remain in the room beginning to trust and take steps to follow your lead and over time look forward to the weekly support and sharing what they have achieved with peers and teachers.
As time progresses a child may require a referral to a counsellor or therapist, however, some may not be ready to engage with therapy and through a mentor having an open mind, showing the child interest and exploring with positivity what is special and meaningful to them they can be ‘planting seeds of growth’.
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