How do you build yourself a decent support network with not much family?

[toptramp]

My mum dies this year and dds dad is abroad so dd and I have my wonderful dad and our lovely friends but not much else.
I feel so sad that we will probably never know her dad's side of the family. How can I build up a decent support network? I am seriously considering adopt a granny as I would love Lara to have more grandparents.

Sorry to hear about your mum that must be so hard for you. Rather than randomly adopting someone you might be better off sticking to your good friends. Your Ds will appreciate the old friends who always remember her birthdays and that she can also be involved with.
I would say it's tricky to form a decent network (that replaces family) because unless you are lucky and find some genuinely lovely folk eventually life gets in the way and they do drift off. You need to be prepared to work hard at maintaining contact and being involved too. having said that my NCT group and a couple of the families I have worked for still provide lots of history/love/background for my DS who also has no contact with his fathers family.