Schools across England are being encouraged to become Care Home Friends in a new scheme to bring together children and older people living in care homes.
The ‘Become a Care Home Friend’ scheme, part of the Care Home Friends and Neighbours (Care Home FaNs): Intergenerational Linking project devised by My Home Life England and The Linking Network, is a 10-week challenge offering schools a programme of activities to foster understanding about older generations and raise awareness of care homes.
Care Home FaNs is England’s biggest intergenerational project. It is funded by Dunhill Medical Trust and the #iwill Fund, a £54 million joint investment between The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Tom Owen, Director of My Home Life England, said: “Both older people and children can get so much out of a relationship with each other, but their contact with each other can be very limited.
“Grandparents often don’t live down the road like they might have in previous years, and children are infrequent visitors to care homes, especially in recent years because of the pandemic.
“Intergenerational work can boost children’s self-esteem, broaden their world view and improve empathy and understanding of others. Equally, feeling part of the community is very much key to quality of life for people living in care homes and intergenerational work helps make this happen. We’ve seen so much joy, fun and energy in all our local projects and we wanted to spread this further and make more connections. This led to the creation of our Become a Care Home Friend Challenge!”
The challenge is aimed at children aged 5-14, with activities geared towards Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. It starts at the beginning of Global Intergenerational Week on Monday 25 April and runs for 10 weeks, through to Care Home Open Week.
Linda Cowie, Director of The Linking Network, commented: “This is a brilliant opportunity for more children across England to get involved in social action and make a positive difference in their communities. We give schools information about how make contact with their local care home and we’ve put together activities that are engaging and fun, supporting children to think more about different generations and create something special for a nearby care home. We’d love for more children to join our network of Care Home Friends!”
