Sibs Supporters

We need your help to fund our Ask an adult sibling project.

There are over a million adult siblings in the UK who have specific needs for support and information at different stages of their lives. See Needs of adult siblings

We want to provide direct support to 900 adult siblings through:

1. Relieving the isolation experienced by adult siblings - most siblings never meet another sibling like them and think they are the only ones who feel the way they do. 
   
2. Helping adult siblings make plans for the future care of their disabled brothers and sisters – most adult siblings find it difficult to talk to their parents about making plans for the future and feel that the options available to them are very limited. This leads to ongoing feelings of frustration, worry, and guilt.
   
3. Improving the confidence and skills of adult siblings in being advocates for their disabled brothers and sisters –most adult siblings want to ensure their brothers and sisters have a good quality of life.  However, they are often not included in things by service providers until their parents are elderly or die, by which time most adult siblings don't know what is available and are unsure of how to influence services.
   
4. Helping adult siblings find help in their local area to deal with long term emotional issues including bereavement and depression - many adult siblings are held back in their lives and unable to fully participate in their work, relationships, or community because of long term emotional problems.

We will do this by employing an adult sibling development officer who will work with 18 adult sibling volunteers in 3 UK regions to:

• Develop a model for adult sibling workshops and run these in local areas. These will be rolled out into other regions
• Provide one to one phone and email support for adult siblings
• Run an online forum for adult siblings
• Develop information resources for adult siblings
• Match adult siblings together for mutual support.
• Raise awareness of the needs of adult siblings within adult services for disabled people.