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Are you a parent, kinship carer relative or friend of a child who is involved with, or who needs the help of, children’s services in England? We can help you understand processes and options when social workers or courts are making decisions about your child’s welfare.
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To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). Or you can ask us a question via email using our advice enquiry form.
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Family or friends raising children who cannot live with their parents and who would otherwise be at risk of entering the care system.
A new report, published by the cross Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care, finds kinship care is a crucial but neglected part of the children’s social care system, often regarded as an afterthought.
There are over 180,000 children in the UK who are not living with their parents but are being raised by relatives, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings or friends.
The number of children in the care system at its highest level since 1985 and the child welfare and family justice system has been described as being in crisis.
The Taskforce believes that the wider family and community is often an untapped resource which could be better supported to keep children out of the care system.
The Taskforce’s research also highlights the strain many carers are under and the urgent need for better support that is responsive to their needs and not their legal status or the procedures of their local authority.
The pressures on carers have also been exacerbated by the Coronavirus pandemic, with many carers already at greater risk of financial deprivation, long term health challenges and social isolation.
The Taskforce report, titled First Thought Not Afterthought, presents a vision for a good quality system of kinship care support.
The inquiry has been supported by the charity Family Rights Group and has taken extensive evidence from kinship carers and their children, professionals working in the sector, third sector organisations, and local authorities.
The group of MPs and Peers present recommendations for national and local government and public agencies to consider.
“Thousands of grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters are doing their best by their kinship children, in extremely different circumstances. For too long their experiences have been ignored and with this inquiry we wanted to bring them into
the public spotlight.
“We’ve heard from kinship carers in every part of England and Wales and many of the stories we have heard have been heart-breaking. Families being plunged into poverty, having to give up work, spending thousands on legal fees, struggling in overcrowded housing, all to give children a safe and loving home.
“Kinship carers are doing the right thing by their families, and we believe the state needs to do the right thing by them, to ensure those placements are a success and that the children are supported to reach their full potential.
“Many more children could also be safely living with family and friends instead of in a care system which is bursting at the seams, if placements were better supported.
“These families have been an afterthought for too long and our report presents a plan to change that. We hope government will take our suggestions forward.”
“We know family and friends are a huge untapped resource for lots of children in the care system and the Taskforce’s research reveals how inconsistent this option is being explored for many children. It means that more children are ending up in the care system, living with strangers, when they could be living within their family and friends’ network.
“The other side to this is that kinship care placements need to be better supported. Even if the carers know the child well, becoming their carer brings lots of challenges, especially if the child has suffered tragedy or trauma. The Taskforce’s work reveals a stark postcode lottery where the support carers can access is dependent on where they live, any legal order they may have, and whether or not the child has been in the care system first. The child’s and the carers needs are at the bottom of the list and the Taskforce has presented a plan to make that the top priority instead.”
(Please contact Family Rights Group for additional case studies – details below)
“We are special guardians to two of our five grandchildren. They’re eight and nine years old and have been in our care since 2013 when their mum suffered from severe postnatal depression and was diagnosed with a borderline line personality disorder.
“Our lives have been completely turned upside down over the past seven years. The first two years were full of tension. We were trying to manage contact with their mum, the gruelling assessment process with children’s services to see if we were suitable to become special guardians and the court process. All of this whilst caring for two young children whose whole lives had changed.”
Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive, Family Rights Group cashley@frg.org.uk 07931570149
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