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Kinship Training and Support Service
Free for kinship carers in England, and available in-person and online. Our training service responds to the needs of kinship carers wherever they are on their kinship journey.
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About the training service
The Kinship Training and Support Service is funded by the Department for Education and is the first national training offer for kinship carers in England. The service currently runs until the end of March 2025. This may be extended to March 2027.
Who is the service for?
The service is for all kinship carers in England regardless of their order. This also includes:
- informal kinship carers
- prospective special guardians
- special guardians
- kinship foster carers
It is free to access, and it is not mandatory.
What is included within the service?
Training
The service includes a menu of training workshops and learning events (Roadshows) supporting kinship carers to navigate their kinship journey.
Kinship carers can pick and choose the workshops depending on their own personal needs and convenience. Our range of workshops and events includes online and in-person options.
Some of the workshops are on specialist topics and will be more relevant depending on the needs of the kinship carer.
Information, advice and guidance
Alongside the training, we have developed and are continuing to develop further information, advice and guidance that kinship carers can access on the Kinship website.
This includes free practical resources and checklists to support kinship carers to navigate complex systems like education or working well with their local authority.
Kinship carers can access Kinship Compass, a free interactive online tool that provides local and national independent information, support and advice by entering their postcode or location.
Kinship Compass signposts kinship carers to their:
- nearest peer support group
- nearest training workshop and learning event
- commissioned Kinship programmes where applicable
- contact details for their local authority team responsible for kinship carers
- local authority friends and family carers policy
- local authority friends and family carers financial allowance policy
- virtual schools
- foodbank
- free legal advice clinic
- signposting to the Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund
- our national advice service for kinship carers
- other sources of specialist advice
Kinship Care Guide for England
The fourth edition of the Kinship Care Guide for England is the only independent guide for kinship carers and has been developed in consultation with them, alongside other kinship experts. These include legal, education, social work and therapeutic experts.
The new expanded edition published in September 2024, is a practical companion guide for kinship carers to understand kinship care. From becoming a kinship carer to living as a kinship family. It includes practical tools, resources and signposting to help them navigate complex systems.
If you’re interested in purchasing copies for your kinship carers or personalising the guide for your local
"If I'd had the guide at the beginning it would have been like a bible to me. I would have valued it like that. Online is great, but having it in one place, physically, is really helpful"
Kinship carer
How can your local authority work with Kinship?
We can support promotion of the training (and our other free services) to all your kinship carers.
We can provide you with:
- flyers
- newsletter templates
- website copy
- social media and WhatsApp banners
Training at your local kinship events
If you are running your own events for kinship carers, we may be able to come and deliver training at your venue, depending on timelines and logistics.
Please talk to our Network Team about your event and how we could support.
We’re also happy to support your team to understand more about free offer, and can join your team meetings to present and answer questions.
Email our Network Team: network@kinship.org.uk
More resources for local authorities
Navigating an often complex and confusing system is difficult for kinship carers. With the right support they can thrive in their kinship caring role. Find out how Kinship can help.
Find out how you can commission our services in your local area to support kinship carers.