Kinship Care Week 2025

Kinship Care Week 2025 runs from the 6th to 12th October. It is one of the biggest events in our calendar, as we take time to raise awareness and celebrate the hard work and dedication of kinship carers.

Every year Kinship Care Week raises awareness, and recognises the contribution of kinship families across England and Wales. This year we are celebrating good news from Parliament for kinship carers in England, and Wales, hearing from kinship carers, and highlighting how our Advice and Advocacy Service can help.

Three reasons to celebrate in Kinship Care Week 2025

We hear from many kinship carers through our kinship care panel and our Advice and Advocacy Service. As well as the joy and satisfaction of stepping in to raise a child who cannot remain with their parents, kinship carers tell us about the barriers and challenges they face. Together we raise these issues with government, and their voices have helped to secure landmark changes for kinship care. In 2025, this combined effort has yielded results:

1. Government considers employment leave for kinship carers

Kinship carers tell us how hard it can be to manage financially. Our Same Love, Same Leave campaign called on the Government to introduce a right to paid employment leave for kinship carers similar to that provided to adopters. Now the Government will include kinship carers in a review of parental leave and pay.

2. The ‘kinship local offer’

A new Bill going through Parliament gives local authorities a legal duty to set out the support available in their area to children and their kinship carers. This should make it easier for kinship families to get the help they need.

3. A definition of kinship care in law

The new Bill also defines kinship care in law. This is important because it will make it easier for kinship carers to be recognised in their caring role, for example, when dealing with schools and hospitals. See our Time to Define campaign for more information.

Every year thousands of kinship carers contact our Advice and Advocacy Service. Many enquiries centre around the lack of support for kinship families, and the complex rules about different types of kinship arrangements. We are glad that 86% of advice line callers surveyed tell us that they have a better understanding of what to do, as a result of contacting the advice line.

But we have always known that it would be much better if the barriers and complexities that kinship families face were removed. And that is why we do everything we can to raise up the voices of kinship carers to government.

So, whilst there is still more work to do, we are taking a moment in Kinship Care Week 2025 to celebrate the contribution of kinship carers, including those who have contacted our advice service, and members of ours kinship carers’ panel, to this year’s landmark legal changes for kinship families.

Do you need advice about kinship care?

Free, independent and confidential advice for parents, kinship carers, relatives and friends of children who are involved with children’s services in England or need their help. We support families to work with social workers and understand the law, their rights and options.

Our Advice and Advocacy Service includes:

• Online advice for kinship carers to help you understand your rights and options.
• An online forum for parents and an online forum for kinship carers to receive advice, discuss issues and find support from others
• A free telephone advice line open Monday to Friday, 9.30am to 3pm (excluding Bank Holidays), on 0808 801 0366. We can arrange an interpreter if needed
• A webchat service where families can chat online to an adviser and get information and advice
• An advice enquiry form which can be used to ask a question which our advisers will answer by email
• Self-advocacy support to callers to our advice line.

From Family Rights Group:

Events from partners:

In Scotland Kinship Care Week takes place in March.

• Join in - digital resource pack, prepared by the charity Kinship.
• Visit the main Kinship Care Week page.

September 2025