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Our advice service

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.

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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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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.

Advice on our website

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.

 

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Help challenge an injustice faced by kinship carers raising vulnerable children

Published: 8th November 2023

3 minute read

Poster on a glitter wall that reads: Save the date. 28th November to 5th December. Donate and see your donation double like magic.We’re excited that Family Rights Group is taking part in the 2023 Big Give Christmas Challenge, the UK’s biggest match funding campaign.

From midday on Tuesday 28th November to Tuesday 5th December, every donation made via the Big Give’s website will be doubled by support from our match-funders.

One donation, twice the impact. Can you help us?

Your donation will help us challenge an injustice faced by kinship carers raising vulnerable children

Family Rights Group advises and advocates for relatives and friends across England and Wales who step up as kinship carers for children, when they cannot stay at home. 

Kinship carers – including grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters – often face financial hardship. Many have no option but to give up work to meet the needs of children who have often experienced trauma. The financial support they may be able to access is complex and confusing. Some are eligible for an allowance, many are not. 

Our advice service often hears examples of heart-breaking and unfair practice. For example, kinship carers raising disabled children being left to draw on the child’s disability payments just to meet basic care needs. And disabled carers being told their own disability related benefits are a source of ‘income’ to be used to meet the costs of raising the child.* 

Funds raised from the Christmas Challenge will support our expert legal team’s to challenge this injustice. Will you help us? 

Will you donate today?

Your donation, no matter how big or small, will ensure that in 2024 we can help fight the injustices faces by kinship families.

Click here to visit our Big Give page and make a donation

We are grateful for the support of our match-funders, including The Aspinwall Educational Trust and the Human Rights Fund.

 

*Kinship carers with a special guardianship order may receive a financial allowance from their local authority. Evidence from our advice service, Ombudsman decisions and case law highlights inconsistent and poor local authority practice in financially supporting kinship carers, including special guardians. For example, when some local authorities are assessing the means of kinship households to determine whether to pay them special guardianship allowance (and at what level), they are wrongly treating some disability related benefits as a source of income to meet the basic costs of raising a child. 
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Our funding means we can currently only help 4 in 10 people

Your donation will help more families access expert legal advice and support from Family Rights Group.

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