Sibs

Sibs was established in 2001 in response to requests for help and support from parents in dealing with the needs of siblings who have a brother or sister with a disability, long-term illness or life-limiting condition. There are over half a million young siblings and over a million adult siblings in the UK. Siblings have specific needs at different stages of their lives including relief from isolation, information on their brother or sister's disability or illness, and strategies for coping with the situation they are in. Sibs aim is to enhance the lives of siblings by providing them with information and support, and by influencing service provision for siblings in the UK. Its long term vision is that each local authority in the UK will have a dedicated sibling service providing support groups and one-to-one support for children who are siblings. Currently, only 0.4% of the population of siblings of a disabled child had access to a sibling group.

In 2005, True Colours provided a grant of £10,000 towards Sibs core costs. In 2006, the Trust provided an additional grant of £10,000 to help Sibs develop its business plan. This led to the Trust committing a further grant of £180,000, over three years, towards the expansion and development of the organisation. This key grant has enabled Sibs to expand its staff resource and build on its work as a national training and support organisation, and lobby at both public and policy level. Work is ongoing to increase the number of sibling services in the UK and to improve public awareness of the needs of siblings. Funding from True Colours has also helped Sibs to expand the capacity of its helpline for parents, create a range of toolkits and training materials for existing sibling groups, and provide a website and intranet for young siblings.

Further information on Sibs can be found here.