By phone or email
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.
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.
Our advice service is free, independent and confidential.
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.
Our online advice forums are an anonymous space where parents and kinship carers (also known as family and friends carers) can get legal and practical advice, build a support network and learn from other people’s experiences.
Our get help and advice section has template letters, advice sheets and resources about legal and social care processes. On Monday and Wednesday afternoons, you can use our webchat service to chat online to an adviser.
Kinship carers are relatives or friends who step in to raise children who cannot remain at home. Often, the children would otherwise be looked after by strangers in the care system.
The Government has acknowledged that kinship carers receive inadequate support for the immense role they play in raising children. Stable Homes, Built on Love – the Government’s strategy – pledges to tackle this shortcoming. They commit to: investing in training and support groups for kinship carers; improving financial support; exploring employment entitlements; developing the first cross-departmental kinship care strategy.
The voices of kinship carers should be heard in this process. Too often, lived experience is overlooked and families suffer as a result. For instance, many kinship carers are struggling through the cost-of-living crisis. Some are seeing the financial and practical support they were receiving for their children reduced or taken away completely as local authorities struggle to balance their budgets. Our workshop ensured that senior civil servants listened to carers’ experiences and ideas for change to inform future policy development.
We brought together 40 kinship carers from across England at the online event which was chaired by Shanayd Warren, a kinship carer to her niece. Our partner kinship care organisations including Kinship Carers Liverpool, Kinship Carers UK, and Families in Harmony were invaluable in helping to give as many carers as possible the opportunity to contribute.
The Kinship and Alternatives to Care policy team from the Department for Education listened closely to the personal stories of kinship carers during this workshop. Altogether, this amounted to a message that should underpin any future kinship care strategy. Kinship carers need recognition and support from all public agencies – including hospitals, schools, national, and local government – to ensure that their children can thrive within their families.
Your donation will help more families access expert legal advice and support from Family Rights Group.
Donate Now