Kinship launches 2025 annual survey for kinship carers

Kinship has today launched its 2025 annual survey. The survey is open to all kinship carers who are raising the child of a relative or friend when their parents are unable to. This includes:

• those with a legal order like a special guardianship order (SGO) or child arrangements order (CAO)
• informal kinship carers
• kinship foster carers (also known as family and friends carers or connected foster carers)

As the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales, Kinship has undertaken an annual survey of kinship carers each year since 2016. Our surveys are the largest of their kind and offer unparalleled insight into the lives of kinship families. The findings of our 2025 annual survey will provide an updated ‘state of the nation’ overview of kinship families.

How we use the survey findings

The insights from our surveys over the last 9 years have helped us to design and deliver high-quality advice and services tailored to the needs and strengths of kinship families. They’ve also helped us generate vital evidence so we can make a compelling case for policy change and raise awareness of the issues which kinship families are facing. The figures from our surveys have featured across national and local TV, radio and newspapers. This has helped boost awareness of kinship care and help more families get the support they need.

Our unique reach allows us to listen to the views and expertise of thousands of kinship carers each year. We campaign alongside them year-round to deliver the changes they want to see most for their families.

The evidence and insights generated from our surveys have helped to secure significant investment and improvements to kinship care policy and practice.

This includes the UK government’s delivery of the first-ever national strategy for kinship care in England in December 2023 and the launch of our Kinship Friendly Employer scheme which employers including Tesco, John Lewis and B&Q have joined, introducing policies to provide paid leave for kinship carers.

The insights also play an instrumental role in helping secure investment in – and helping inform the design of – game-changing services for kinship families including peer support, training and advice.

Who we want to hear from

We want to hear from all kinship carers but we are especially keen to hear from:

• informal kinship carers
• kinship carers from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds
• kinship carers aged under 45
• sibling or family friend kinship carers
• male kinship carers

This is because these groups are often under-represented in our annual surveys and wider evidence, decision-making and service design and we want to ensure that the insights gained from our annual survey are reflective of the diversity of the population of kinship families in England and Wales.

Other key information

The survey will take kinship carers around 20 minutes to complete and it’s completely confidential. It will remain open for responses until 23:59 on Tuesday 5 August 2025.

If you’re a kinship carer, please share your experience and expertise with us by completing our 2025 annual survey. Please encourage other kinship carers to take part too.

If you are not a kinship carer, then you can help by sharing the survey on your social media channels, in any relevant professional networks or directly with any kinship carers you know.

Visit our research and reports based on the findings from previous Kinship annual surveys.