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Previous Kinship surveys and other research has evidenced the lack of clear and accessible advice, information and support for kinship families from most local authorities. Across different kinship family arrangements and at different points in their journey, very few kinship carers tell us they have felt fully informed and supported in navigating their new lives and the often complex and unfamiliar policies and processes which they struggle to understand. Given that kinship care arrangements often begin in crisis with little to no notice for the carer, the lack of advice and support can make a very challenging situation even more difficult.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t appear to be improving. In 2019, 84% of kinship carers who responded to our annual survey said they didn’t receive the information they needed when the child moved in.[1] 80% said they did not receive sufficient information and advice in 2020.[2] Last year, only 3 in 10 kinship carers (29%) told us they had received any information about being a kinship carer from the local authority before or shortly after their child moved in.[3]
In our 2023 annual survey, we wanted to explore further kinship carers’ overall ratings of the performance of their local authority in supporting and providing information to them and their family, and understand how trust impacted on which organisations and networks kinship carers might turn to for support in times of need.
Quality of support
1 in every 5 survey respondents (20%) said they had never received any local authority support. Whilst it may be appropriate and preferable for some families not to receive what they might see as ongoing formalised support from the local authority, this represents a substantial proportion of families who have never accessed support which may have supported or could support their family arrangement. In the UK Government’s response to the Stable Homes, Built on Love consultation for England, it noted that over a quarter of respondents said their local authority provided no support for kinship carers, prompting “concerns that kinship carers are left to navigate the process of becoming a kinship carer, and provide a loving stable home, without help from their local authority”.[4]
25%
rated the quality of local authority support their family had recevied as very poor.
However, even for those who had received local authority support, a quarter (25%) of respondents rated the support their kinship family had received as ‘very poor’ and a further 19% as ‘poor’. Only 3% said the support they received had been ‘excellent’. As some comparison, over half (53%) of foster carers in 2021 rated the support received from their fostering service in general as being excellent or good and 14% as poor or very poor.[5] Clearly, even where it is being delivered, local authority support around kinship care is not typically experienced positively by many families.
“Lack of finances & lack of adequate support from the LA, they hinder progress rather than enhance it.”
Grandparent and family and friends foster carer
“My youngest who is nearly 3 has complex needs and is disabled. His sister who is 6 is being assessed for ADHD and FAS. I physically and mentally felt I wasn’t coping and was referred by the school to social services. I begged and pleaded for help but they said it was my choice to become a special guardian! I was seriously thinking of walking away.”
Grandparent and special guardian
“Local authority support is totally non existent, you have to fight them every inch of the way its [sic] disgraceful.”
Step grandparent and special guardian
One third (33%) of respondents said they did not currently live in the same local authority as where their kinship child (or children) were living before coming into their care. Of this group, 57% said they had experienced challenges accessing support for their kinship family as a result. We plan for future Kinship surveys to explore this in more detail to ensure that kinship families who move aren’t unfairly penalised and can access appropriate support wherever they are.
“[We’ve had] delays in therapeutic support being offered due to living in a different authority to where children were living prior to coming to live with us.”
Quality of information
Even more starkly, over one third (35%) of respondents to our survey rated the information about kinship care provided by the local authority as ‘very poor’ and a further 20% as ‘poor’. Only 2% said this was excellent.
35%
rated the information about kinship care provided by their local authority as very poor.
Despite it having been a requirement for local authorities to publish, regularly update and promote widely a ‘family and friends care policy’ setting out their approach towards promoting and supporting the needs of children living with kinship carers[6], only 7% of survey respondents from England had ever seen their local authority’s policy. Nearly 6 in 10 (58%) said they hadn’t seen this, and a further 3 in 10 (29%) said they didn’t know this existed.
“Our arrangement has just ended & we could not find out any information of entitlement from anywhere before this happened. It has been very stressful & had little help. Our SGO support stopped overnight. Yet we only received it for 5 of the 15 yrs we were SGO. Their [sic] was no sick pay or redundancy. No help in changing benifits [sic] & NO INFO available!”
Grandparent and special guardian
“[There should be] a standardised information session so that all kinship carers would know their own legal rights and responsibilities and also know the statutory provision that their Local Authority is obliged to offer. This would end the ‘postcode lottery’ that exists at the moment.”
Grandparent and special guardian
The forthcoming national kinship care strategy in England must balance the need to deliver significant, long-term investment and legislative change to create a comprehensive system of support, with the opportunity to introduce immediate ‘quick wins’ that can improve the lives of kinship families in the interim. Supporting and challenging local authorities to improve the visibility and accessibility of information for kinship carers is a clear example of the latter.
Trust
In the context of poor local authority support, access to independent guidance and support for many kinship carers can be crucial. Evaluations of our Kinship Connected programme have highlighted how carers report high levels of trust in the relationship with their project worker, which in turn helped to repair and facilitate improved relationships with others – including social workers and the local authority.[7]
49%
did not trust their local authority at all.
As outlined by Professor Joan Hunt in her exploration of kinship care social work practice, “skill and time are needed to establish a relationship of mutual trust, explore complex family history and dynamics and take the prospective carer on the ‘reflective journey’ which will often be required”[8]; this lack of trust can significantly impact on kinship families’ experiences and ultimately with their likelihood of receiving the support they might need.[9] Mistrust was also clear from kinship carers as well as their children.
“I don’t trust the child’s social worker and won’t be pushed into anything by her.”
Aunt and family and friends foster carer
“Both children have a very negative view on people such as social workers as they had double figure numbers of them while just with me. Social workers that approached the children with different views and attitudes and never stayed in that position long enough to build a trustful relationship. The last social worker built a better relationship up with them but the mistrust stayed.”
Aunt and special guardian
“[There needs to be] better training & time for social workers and honesty from them. More available support and truthfulness for prospective Special Guardians.”
Grandparent and special guardian
When asked who they would turn to for support to help them and their kinship family, nearly three quarters (73%) of respondents said friends and family. Other common options included charities supporting kinship families (39%), educational settings such as schools (38%), and peer support groups of other kinship carers (28%). Only a quarter (25%) of respondents said they would turn to the local authority despite the clear statutory and other duties held and delivered by children’s services.
Over half (55%) of respondents said they would be more likely to access a local support service for their kinship family if this was operated by an independent organisation (e.g. a charity or community group) compared to only 15% who chose the local authority. However, nearly a quarter (24%) said they didn’t know, suggesting that kinship carers’ receptiveness to offers of support are typically complex and understandably situational and relational.
Looking for more?
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