Jean Stogdon, who has died aged 86, was a full-time housewife and mother until the age of 40, when she began a successful career in social work, later becoming an impassioned champion of grandparents and other relatives raising children who cannot be brought up by their parents. Jean eloquently and consistently argued that the focus on the relationship between parents and children does not reflect the complexity of family life in Britain today.
Demonstrating her disdain for all manifestations of ageism, in 1998 Jean applied to become a foundation student at the School for Social Entrepreneurs in Bethnal Green, east London, created by Michael Young. Young had been co-author of the seminal 1957 work Family and Kinship in East London. Kinship care – in which relatives take the place of biological parents – lacked recognition by social workers, policymakers and other professionals. Jean set out to make grandparents a visible part of the family tree.
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