a. Regulate to require local authorities to publish a family and friends care policy and have a named designated senior council officer with responsibility for implementing the policy. Ofsted inspections of children’s services departments should specifically ensure that this duty is complied with and Ofsted should conduct Joint Targeted Area Inspections of kinship care. The Local Government Association should also be encouraged to provide a kinship care peer review and a support network for local authorities.
b. Give all children being raised by kinship carers for more than 28 days (where there is court, local authority or professional evidence that they cannot live with their parents), the same rights currently available to children who are adopted from care including:
i. Priority school admissions
ii. Pupil Premium Plus
iii. Free childcare for 2 year olds
iv. A designated member of school staff to promote their educational achievement
v. Access to the Adoption Support Fund.
c. Introduce a national financial allowance for kinship carers who are raising children who would otherwise be in the care system.
d. Place a new duty on local authorities to establish and commission kinship care support services, including assistance with managing contact and family relationships, counselling and therapeutic support, help with children’s emotional and behavioural needs, life story work, and setting up local support groups for kinship carers.
e. Place a new duty on local authorities to assess the support needs of children in kinship care who the court, local authority or a professional has determined cannot live with their parents.
f. Place a new power on local authorities to assess the need of any child living in kinship care for support services.
g. Collect and publish robust, official data about kinship care arrangements to inform planning of local and national policies and support services for kinship care.