Community groups get lotto boost

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Community groups across Scotland are to receive almost £3m in lottery funding.

Groups working with families - which account for eight of the 13 projects funded - will particularly benefit from the grants.

Among the major recipients is the Fostering Links project, which will set up a new outreach service for foster families in rural areas of Scotland.

Up-2-Us, which will help families in crisis in West Dunbartonshire, will receive the largest single award.

Fostering Links, run by the Fostering Network charity, will have its training and workshops for foster families re-funded.

Big Lottery Fund Scotland chairwoman, Alison Magee, said: "One of the major themes emerging from today's funding is the need for more support to be available for families, including single parents, foster families and young carers.

I have been a foster carer for over 25 years in the north of Scotland, and living in a rural area meant that in the past I could often feel isolated and unsupported Marjorie RuddickFostering Links

"Foster families in particular rely on this support to produce the best possible quality of care for their children and young people. Without it these families can feel isolated."

Marjorie Ruddick, a foster carer who has participated in Fostering Links, welcomed the news.

She said: "I have been a foster carer for over 25 years in the north of Scotland, and living in a rural area meant that in the past I could often feel isolated and unsupported. However, since the Fostering Links project began, support within foster care has been strengthened."

The grant of over £450,000 given to Up-2-Us will benefit families in which a child is at risk of being taken into care.

Acting upon referrals from schools, health services, police and social services, staff with social care experience will support whole families as well as individual children. Volunteers will help run family activities and keep children involved in their local community.

Olive Arens, who manages Up-2-Us, said the project would help children with everyday problems such as truanting, as well more serious issues like drug abuse.

Other projects financed by the Big Lottery Fund grant include Dundee International Women's Centre, which will work with socially excluded women from black and minority ethnic communities to build self-esteem and gain new skills.