How to contact us for advice
We provide advice to parents, grandparents, relatives, friends and kinship carers who are involved with children’s services in England or need their help. 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). For Textphone dial 18001 followed by the advice line number. 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 describes the processes that you and your family are likely to go through, so that you know what to expect. Our webchat service can help you find the information and advice on our website which will help you understand the law and your rights.
Kinship carers are family and friends, who are raising children who are unable to live with their parents. Such situations often arise as a result of tragedy or trauma. But there is no single definition of kinship care in legislation. As a result, the child’s carer can face many challenges including not being recognised by hospital services or schools. Many carers are also currently entitled to little or no support for the child and themselves, especially if they have stepped in during an emergency.
“Without an agreed definition, kinship carers can quickly run into a myriad of confusion and misunderstanding” says Family Rights Group’s Principal Legal Adviser, Caroline Lynch. “At the very moment when the child they are caring for needs stability and support, kinship carers find they are having to constantly explain who they are and what they need.”
Family Rights Group is proposing a universal definition of kinship care be written into primary legislation which would encompass the different types of kinship care arrangement. Meeting the definition would then automatically passport kinship carers and their children to entitlement to a minimum level of support and services.
The proposal has been informed by the views of thousands of kinship carers including members of our kinship carers’ panel and those who contact our specialist national advice service every year. It has also been influenced by research, and the policy and practice insights of Family Rights Group and other members of the Kinship Care Alliance. We are grateful to all who have influenced the thinking behind these proposals.
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