Messages of Impact from Parents and Grandparents We Support

“Today my sons celebrate their 16th birthday. Without the support of SPS post-separation, they may not have been in my life. Thank you SPS for all you do.”

Mum posting in an SPS WhatsApp group, February 2026

At Shared Parenting Scotland, we support families navigating the difficult terrain of separation, divorce, and high-conflict parenting. Our mission is to help parents sustain meaningful relationships with their children and prioritise child wellbeing.

The quote above from one mother is just one of many. Messages like these remind us that while we can’t do everything for everyone, our work often shifts the trajectory of people’s lives. They also signal just how high-stakes and stressful family separation can be and why support matters.

What we do

Our services include:

Each year, we reach thousands of parents and grandparents, and extended family, including veterans, serving personnel, offering practical tools, emotional and practical support and skills building.

Impact in Action – Practical Skills that Transform Lives

Our training programmes equip parents with the emotional tools and communication strategies they need to respond calmly and constructively. The result? Reduced conflict, improved decision-making, and more stable outcomes for children.

“The training gave me techniques to control my emotions and avoid high-conflict text arguments. I credit the course with helping me make real progress in my case.”

Veteran and New Ways for Families participant

“The course helped me pause, diffuse tension, and not react. If anyone is in doubt—don’t be. The benefits are vast, and I’ve reaped the rewards, personally and professionally.”

Dad reflecting on improved co-parenting after the course

These changes directly improve communication, reduce stress, and create more sustainable contact arrangements for children.

Restoring hope after loss

For some, the journey includes estrangement or fear of losing touch with their children. Our work helps rebuild hope and relationships once thought lost.

“Because of Shared Parenting Scotland, both my kids are now gaining contact with me. I’ve learned patience, calm, and the power of the New Ways for Families training.”

Dad and course participant

“I completed the training to help myself through a tough time—and to be a better version of myself for my children.”

Dad on our Love, Loss and Living course

Additionally, our data from our CRM shows improved communication, reduced emotional distress, and re-established relationships with children as recurring outcomes of our support.

Building Connected Communities

We’re here for families:

• Monthly support groups across Scotland combat isolation and offer connection and practical and legal support from our growing pro-bono solicitor network.
• Offering templates, guides, resources and reassurance.
• WhatsApp peer groups now include over 700 active members, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and all parenting configurations who share, support, and strengthen one another.

 

“Just having others to talk to who understand has been a lifeline. I came to SPS at my lowest point and didn’t know where else to turn.” Dad.

Many parents go on to volunteer, becoming part of the wider support system that helped them, creating a cycle of purpose and care.

Collaboration for Long-Term Change

We work closely with service providers, legal professionals, community groups, and networks to:

• Improve referrals
• Embed early intervention and respond timeously
• Reduce stigma
• Keep child wellbeing at the centre of decisions.

 

This collaborative approach increases access to support, helps families avoid costly and stressful legal processes and makes solutions possible.

Volunteer Lay Supporters: A Growing Network

We now have 77 trained lay supporters and this number continues to grow with plans in place to train more volunteers in 2026.

“Accessing a lay supporter through SPS was huge for me. They helped me focus on what mattered and supported me through an incredibly stressful time. I’m so grateful for this network.”

Parent and party litigant in the family court.

Our trained volunteers provide reassurance, structure, and insight to those navigating separation and the family court system as party litigants.

Voices of Change

“I truly believe what I learned from New Ways for Families helped me achieve the outcome I did in court.”

Parent going through the family courts.

“Without exaggeration, SPS support changed my life.”

From a participant’s blog on coping with loss, finding support and reclaiming hope

A Message from Our Chief Executive

Kevin Kane, Chief Executive of Shared Parenting Scotland said,

“These stories of impact show a consistent theme. Our staff and volunteers help parents and grandparents cope, engage more constructively with the systems, rebuild trust, and maintain meaningful relationships with their children”.

“By offering practical skills, a window to legal advice, trusted support and safe spaces to learn and connect, SPS helps families through separation and in many cases emerge stronger from it”.

Mr Kane went on,

“But as a society we need to do more. Families deserve systems that treat them fairly, consistently and with the long term in mind. Prolonged adversarial disputes and entrenched court battles rarely serve children well. In many cases, they deepen conflict, increase stress and make future co-parenting harder.

If we are serious about children’s wellbeing, we must continue to shift towards early intervention, constructive dispute resolution and approaches that reduce conflict rather than inflame it”.