New legislation is a ‘generational opportunity’ for building effective kinship care support

Family Rights Group’s ‘Act for kinship care’ campaign is proposing four transformative measures to be included in primary legislation:

For the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to include:

• A statutory definition of kinship care. To improve recognition and understanding of kinship care in all its forms and establish the foundation for an effective support system.
• A duty on local authorities to develop and publish a local offer for kinship families, setting out how they will support kinship families.
• Introducing a legal right for families to be offered a family group conference before social workers consider going to court to remove their children. To allow families to take a lead in finding safe solutions, including identifying potential kinship carers.

For the Employment Rights Bill to include:

• A right to paid employment leave, akin to adoption leave, to support kinship carers to remain in work while giving them time to settle children into their new home.

“This is a generational opportunity to build the foundations of an effective support system for kinship care,” said Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive of Family Rights Group.

“Our research, and experience from our specialist national advice service, shows that too often the support that family and friends can offer children is not explored. And when kinship carers step in to provide a home or children within their family, the state does not step up to provide the support those families need.

“While there have been some welcome moves forward in support provision including the national kinship care strategy, we need to get the basics right. New legislation can ensure exploring family first is hardwired into the system, and that kinship care in all its forms is recognised in law. Without that, we’ll never see an effective and fair system of financial and practical support for children and kinship carers in place.”

Clare Walsh, kinship carer and 2024 parliamentary candidate, said:

“As a kinship carer to two children I have struggled with the current system and the lack of support available. I ran for Parliament because legislative change is desperately needed by kinship families. The changes we are asking for would lead to greater happiness, health and success for one of the most vulnerable groups of people in our society; children who have often experienced tragedy and trauma.

“The new Government knows the impact of growing up in poverty, and too many children experience this. Too many carers are forced out of work and into the welfare system. A right to paid employment leave would mean they could remain in work, lifting themselves and their children out of poverty. But it also needs to start with getting the basics right. Defining kinship care in law would cut through the misunderstanding we face. No family should be confronted by police officers while their kinship child lays in a hospital bed struggling to breathe, the way I was.

“Family first makes sense for our children and society and should be the default.”