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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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Kinship Care Alliance Manifesto

Published: 18th June 2024

3 minute read

The Kinship Care Alliance has published its manifesto for the 2024 General Election. Family Rights Group is proud to support.

The Kinship Care Alliance is a group of organisations that campaigns for better recognition and support for kinship carers. KCA members have a shared belief that when children and young people cannot remain home with their birth parents, they are best raised with relatives and friends in kinship care. We believe that all kinship families should receive the right support and help so that children in kinship care are able to thrive in safe, loving homes within their family network.

While kinship carers raise more than 180,000 children across the UK, many kinship carers do so without adequate support or recognition. As a result, they and the children in their care often experience significant practical, financial and emotional challenges in their lives.

The Kinship Care Alliance has outlined seven priorities for the next Government to recognise the value of kinship care and the unique challenges which kinship families face, and to deliver the radical reform kinship families desperately need.

Download the Kinship Care Alliance’s Priorities for the Next Government

7 priorities for the next government:

  1. Introducing new primary legislation which delivers a coherent legislative framework for kinship care across the child welfare and family justice systems, consistent with the new government definition.
  2. Significantly enhancing support for kinship families, ensuring that available support reflects family needs and isn’t determined simply by legal order, postcode or the child’s journey into kinship care.
  3. Making sure that kinship care options are always explored, and suitably and fairly assessed, before a child becomes looked after, unless there is an emergency, and that families are involved in making decisions about a child’s care.
  4. Recognising the racial disparities within kinship care and taking steps to ensure reforms address the unique experiences of kinship families from black and minority ethnic communities.
  5. Delivering improved data collection on kinship care to inform local and national policy-making and increasing the visibility of kinship families.
  6. Placing the views and experiences of kinship families and the communities they’re a part of at the heart of policymaking, recognising their expertise and how it can contribute to building a better system.
  7. Providing local authorities with sufficient long-term funding so they can deliver their duties and invest in pioneering new practice and culture change to better support kinship families.

We encourage successfully elected candidates to show their support for kinship families by:

  • asking a parliamentary question about the implementation of the national Kinship Care Strategy
  • asking for a Westminster Hall debate about supporting kinship families
  • joining the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care
  • writing to the leader of your council asking about what actions they are taking to support kinship families
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