Aunt kinship carer and Someone Like Me volunteer

I became a kinship carer to my niece two and a half years ago.

In 2025 I became a Someone Like Me volunteer for many reasons. As a Someone Like Me volunteer, I speak 1:1 with kinship carers who just need somebody to listen to them share their experiences or whatever troubles they’re going through.

When I first became a kinship carer I luckily stumbled on Kinship’s website and I was so relieved to find some information and advice tailored to what I was going through. I used the advice line and went to every workshop that I could go to. Everybody was so sincere and made me feel safe. It was such a scary and frightening time but the support empowered me in ways I could never imagine, such as dealing with the courts, contact, trauma and bereavement.

When my life became a little more ‘normal’ in a way I really wanted to pay my knowledge and experience forward to other kinship carers. I wanted to use my skills and expertise as a life coach, so I applied to be a volunteer at Kinship.

Ahead of the call, Kinship staff members match us so I often speak to kinship carers who are aunts, have experienced bereavement or are having court or contact challenges.

I like being able to help people to feel more empowered by the end of the call even if at times it can be emotionally challenging. I think it’s important that kinship carers have a place where they can share their concerns which can be difficult to do with friends or in a group who don’t have similar lived experience.

I recently spoke to a kinship carer who began the call by sharing her deep frustrations with the court process which she felt was too slow and also felt very attacked by the other party. I shared my experience and the eventual positive outcome. After hearing that she said: ‘I’m so glad we got to talk today. I’m going to hold onto what you said. It will give me hope for the next few months before I have to go back to court again.’ I was so happy that I made a difference for her that day. She’s asked for another call just before the next meeting to help her stay positive.

Kinship is also always there to help when I need them. I only take about one call a month because that is what I can manage. You don’t need to have any particular experience or expertise to be a Someone Like Me volunteer – you just need to be able to listen empathetically. There’s also a WhatsApp group that I’m part of and a monthly volunteers online meeting where we support each other with any challenges or topics that we may counter on calls.

I believe that kinship carers may feel lost without Kinship. Like me, they may fear that any misstep will result in their child being taken away from them. I’m here to tell them that they don’t need to feel like that. Kinship staff and volunteers are sincere, reliable and really care.