Kinship welcomes Government’s ‘first ever major commitment’ to supporting kinship families

Kinship, the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales, has welcomed Government plans to fund support and training for kinship carers, calling the announcement “the first ever major commitment to supporting kinship families.”

The Government’s Children’s Social Care Implementation Strategy, published today, places kinship care front and centre of a new national approach to supporting children and families across England. It includes measures that Kinship has long campaigned for, including developing a first ever kinship care strategy by the end of the year and a £9 million national programme of tailored support and training for kinship carers.

As the largest support provider for kinship families in England, Kinship has welcomed what it terms “long overdue” support for kinship carers but is urging the Government to:

• accelerate the pace of change in regard to financial support so that kinship carers receive allowances on a par with foster carers
• ensure reforms reach all kinship carers, including those without a legal order securing their family arrangement
• ensure its new strategy equalises educational and health support between kinship children and children in local authority care. Children in kinship care often have similar experiences of trauma and loss, but most do not receive the support they need
• provide the long-term and sustainable funding which local authorities need to deliver these reforms, and match the level of investment identified by the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care so that all children can thrive

Kinship’s CEO, Dr Lucy Peake said:

“This first ever, major Government commitment to support kinship families is a seismic moment for the hundreds of thousands of family members and friends who sacrifice so much to keep children within safe and loving homes and out of the care system.

“We are delighted that our campaigning alongside kinship carers, as well as the evidence and insights we contributed to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, have led to the Government announcing a first national kinship care strategy to be delivered later this year and a new £9milllion programme of tailored support and training for kinship carers.

“As the largest provider of support services designed with and for kinship carers, we know how vital it is that kinship carers are able to access the expert advice and training they desperately need. This new programme of support must be co-designed by kinship carers to ensure it fulfils their needs and maximises their strengths.

“The Government needs to act with urgency as more than 3 in 10 kinship carers who don’t get the support they need tell us that they may no longer be able to care for the children they love – putting thousands of children at risk of entering the care system.

“There’s still a long way to go to equalise support between kinship families and foster and adoptive families. We especially need the Government to commit to introducing financial allowances for all kinship carers, and ensure local authorities get the significant, long-term funding they need so all children can thrive. We will continue to push the Government ahead of its kinship care strategy to ensure that all kinship carers receive the support they need so that the children they’re raising can flourish.”

Kinship carer Wendy Turner, 69, from East Sussex, who raised her two grandchildren, now aged 16 and 10 from babies, welcomes the Government’s announcement.

She said: “I was in a well-paid job when social workers called me one morning and said there was a crisis situation and asked if my husband and I would take care of my grandson because his mum was struggling and unwell.

“Social services said I would have to stop working to look after him otherwise he would go into the care system. We didn’t receive any information, advice or training about being kinship carers and were just left to get on with looking after him, soon followed by our granddaughter.

“We didn’t know what to do, or where to turn for help, especially as kinship children have different needs due to the trauma they’ve experienced.

“We’ve been campaigning for this kind of practical support for years. I wish I’d received this support but I know it will help thousands of kinship carers in the future and make things easier to understand and less stressful.”

For more than 20 years, Kinship has been building partnerships with local authorities and leading the development of new services for kinship carers, while collecting crucial, national data to improve understanding of the needs of kinship carers and the difference they make to children’s lives.

Kinship’s ‘Value Our Love’ campaign is calling for better support for kinship families. Find out more about our #ValueOurLove campaign.