Kinship Carers Support
A kinship carer is a relative or friend who takes on the care of a child when their parents cannot look after them. There are an estimated 160,000 children living in kinship care in the UK, compared with 50,000 living in care. Often, children are placed with family or friends before other options such as fostering is considered. The challenges are enormous. All too often the children arrive during a crisis, and kinship carers don’t have time to plan, prepare, save money or make space for the children they love. In addition, kinship carers are sometimes looking after children who have experienced some trauma, which can bring with it behaviours that can be challenging.
The Government has made a major announcement setting out its plans to improve support for children and families, including a number of new commitments to supporting kinship families.
In May 2022 the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care made recommendations to the Government on how to improve support for kinship carers.
Stressed Parent has been delivering online workshops in collaboration with Kinship since September 2022.
Whilst we know there is a very great need for lots more training for carers, these workshops are an excellent starting point and give carers top tips to help them build a healthy and happy relationship with their kinship child.
Kinship carers have said:
“It was truly excellent. Many thanks indeed.”
“Gill was very good, gave clear examples and good advice within the time available.”
“I read a lot of behavioural books and on-line articles about bringing up kinship children. This workshop was an ideal companion to everything I have read and tried. Some good bitesize strategies in the session to add to my knowledge and help me to focus on what I need to do, and how I need to do it.”
We’re looking forward to our continued partnership with Gill, and we’re thinking carefully about how we can build more detailed and extensive provision for kinship carers in 2023.
Kinship is an England and Wales charity that exists to support these incredible people. You can read more about Kinship here.
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