Campaign success for kinship families

Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive of Family Rights Group, said:

“The new kinship local offer is a crucial step forward in ensuring that when family and friends step up to raise children who cannot live at home, there is information and support available to help the children to thrive. Family Rights Group is proud to have secured this change in the law.

“As local authorities are getting to work developing their local offer, it is fundamental that they do so with children and families in their area to ensure it reflects their insights and experiences and meets their needs. The National Kinship Care Ambassador has been strongly advocating for this.

“We have been campaigning for the new legislation to make that expectation to consult crystal clear, so families are always involved from the outset. We are pleased that Government agrees and is now introducing that duty to work in partnership with families to the Bill.

“It’s a win for the tens of thousands of kinship families – not least the grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters who take on the care of the children – and crucially for the child themselves.”

The APPG’s Chair, Melanie Onn MP, has released the following statement:

“The Kinship Local Offer is a major milestone in improving recognition and support for children raised by relatives and friends in kinship care.

“The young people our APPG recently met were really clear that they want to be involved in decisions about their lives and in helping design support available in their area. We’ve also had many conversations with kinship carers frustrated by the battles to secure support that meets their family’s needs.

“We have been making that case to Government and its excellent to see that they will now strengthen the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill so that children and families must be consulted when local authorities are developing their local offer.”