A ground-breaking new project funded by BBC Children in Need will bring together a group of kinship care experienced Young Champions to create and deliver campaigns to raise kinship care awareness and accelerate policy, practice and legislative change.
The project, involving 30 young people aged 14-17, comes at a time of growing interest in kinship care as a positive choice for children whose parents are unable to care for them, including a focus on it by the independent review of children’s social care.
The Young Champions will be asking MPs, councillors and leaders in social care, education, health and family justice to meet with them, bringing young peoples’ lived experience and voice to the design of kinship care support.
Lucy Peake, CEO at Kinship said:
“Around 200,000 children in the UK are growing up in kinship care, yet their voices are rarely heard and their experiences frequently absent from debates about policy and service development. We’re excited to receive funding from BBC Children in Need to create opportunities for a group of kinship care experienced young people to influence the future of kinship care nationally. We can’t wait to see the impact our Young Champions will make.”
The Young Champions from six north London boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington will be supported by a youth worker who will work alongside Kinship’s team of Kinship Connected project workers who deliver on-the-ground support for kinship carers in the area. This approach will enable Kinship to provide joined up support to kinship families where needed.
The project builds on the research study Growing Up in Kinship Care and is inspired by the work of the Mirabel Foundation in Australia which provides joined up youth work and family support to kinship families www.mirabelfoundation.org.au
Read coverage in Children and Young People Now magazine:
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