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As part of our work on the Family Review, we asked families to contribute to our research by sharing their Family Profile – a snapshot of what families means to them, their strengths, the challenges they may have experienced, how they like to spend their time and the support that they value the most.

Read our next three profiles below:

I am a mother to six children, the oldest two children (aged 21 and 19) are at university, the younger 4 are at home. One is at military college (aged 17), two are in secondary school (aged 12 and 11) and the youngest (aged 7) is in junior school. I am also a full-time carer to my husband. We value happiness love and security as a family and we stick together and help each other. Covid was extremely difficult. With the children unable to go to school and socialising with their friends. We were stuck inside 24 hours a day and it was difficult to have our own space and a break from each other. Money worries and behaviour weren’t the best. There was also negative behaviour between siblings. The impact was name-calling and fighting and the same routine each day got very repetitive. Although, it was nice some days with not having the worries about sticking to schedules. I haven’t used any support services as I’m embarrassed. I asked school for help with my 12 year old, he needs mentoring with his behaviour, it got out of control for a while but now he’s settling down.
I am a lone single parent to 2 children who I live with. I most value our time together as a family. I have an ex-husband, parents who have been married 50 years, and a younger brother with partner. My ex-husband’s family are Ukrainian and still live in Ukraine. As a family we work as a team with clear values and ethos and transparency and communication is really important. It’s a real challenge balancing work within a world which says it has become flexible but childcare hasn’t changed to reflect this and is expensive. This has reduced time I get to spend with friends and family. To help with this we go on a park run as a family and discuss issues in an age-appropriate way..
ONLINE PROFILE 70 I am married and have 3 children aged 25, 22 and 15. They all have my husband's surname but the older two are from my first marriage. My mum is a widow and lives just down the road from us and we are in contact daily. My sister and her family live about two hours away but we used to live closer and she helped me with childcare and support so they are extended family. My husband's mum and dad live abroad and we support his sister as a single parent from a distance. I have 2 cats and several close friends, both local and further afield. We are also part of a church. I also feel that my elder children's half siblings from their father's family are part of my family responsibilities because my daughter cares about them. I really value our ability to support each other and communicate openly. We try to work through stuff together in a supportive way and collaborate. We moved three generations from one area of the country to another, which has involved new houses, jobs and schools. That was hard for my husband who has dyslexia and finds change difficult, but the new school has been great for my son and my daughter has found work.

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