Ageing Without Children: Roundtable Discussion

Whatever your age, bring your comments and concerns about Ageing Without Children to this roundtable and let's discuss what an "AWOC-friendly" health system and society would look like and how we can make it happen.

Increasing numbers of people are ageing without "next generation" support ("AWOCs") either because they have not had children or for other reasons like estrangement, distance, death or a child's own additional needs. And yet health and social care still assumes that there will be a family advocate to organise support and fill the gaps as we age. For many of us that isn't true. One in five women born in the mid-1960s had no children - up from less than one in ten in the mid-1940s. 50% of women now reach their 30th birthday without giving birth and many will remain childless for life. We need to redesign society so that people without family support can age well.

Some of the problems can include:

• Who will speak for me as I get frail or organise my affairs if I don't have "someone I trust"?
• Will I be forced to stay longer in hospital or pushed into a care home because I don't have informal support when I get ill?
• How will the new visions of "hospital at home" and health services in the community work for me?
• How can health and social care plan for this new reality with the inadequate information currently available about us?

This event is organised in partnership with Ageing Without Children East Kent.

Penny is the coordinator and co-founder of AWOC East Kent, a group run by and for people who are ageing without the support of adult children, either because they never had children or for other reasons. AWOC East Kent provides informal peer support and information, and works with other local organisations to ensure that the needs of people ageing without children are included in policy, planning and services for older people.

Tickets are Donations / Pay-What-You-Can. If you are able to support with a donation then we'd really appreciate it. If a financial contribution is not possible for you at this time then we'd still love to see you there! No pressure, no judgement - it really is Pay-What-You-Can.

This roundtable is part of . A month-long multidisciplinary series of creative events, talks, exhibitions and workshops at Fourth Wall Folkestone exploring Women’s Health and diet culture.

Host or Publisher Fourth Wall Folkestone CIC