Government urged to support children in kinship care

Kinship, a national charity for kinship care in England and Wales, has released new research highlighting that children being raised by relatives or family friends in kinship care are often suffering from life-changing trauma with no support. 

Kinship care is when a child lives full-time or most of the time with a relative or close family friend, usually because their parents are not able to care for them. In the UK, there are more than 180,000 children in kinship care, three times the number living with unrelated foster carers. 

The report found that children being raised by relatives or family friends because their parents are unable to care for them are being denied access to the support they need to heal from early childhood trauma. 

Dr Lucy Peake, CEO of Kinship said: “The failure of successive governments to provide support for children in kinship care is inexcusable."

She added that children in kinship care are being denied the support they need to be healthy and happy, to learn well at school and to thrive.  

Peake said: “The previous UK government’s National Kinship Care Strategy for England completely failed to address the lack of support for kinship children’s mental health needs, educational needs and family relationships. But all this can and must change.  

“This year, there is huge potential for the new Labour government to rewrite the future for thousands of children in kinship care. If it is serious in its mission to break down barriers to opportunity so that all children can reach their potential, then it must not forget about children in kinship care. This government must take immediate, bold steps to improve support for them.”  

“In Wales, the new first minister must harness the opportunity provided by a renewed national focus on the experiences of children and the wellbeing of future generations, to improve support for children in kinship care.”  

Kinship’s survey of more than 1600 kinship carers found that almost half of kinship carers felt the child in their care’s adverse experiences, such as separation from parents, abuse, neglect or bereavement, had negatively impacted on their ability to cope in education. 

This includes struggling to manage their emotions, adapt to the school environment and perform well in exams.  

The report found that while children in kinship care have usually experienced similar trauma, adversity and loss to children living in foster and residential care, only 4 in 10 kinship carers said their children had ever accessed any emotional or therapeutic support.   

As well as this, half of kinship carers said their children currently had mental health difficulties. 

According to the report, the early childhood trauma many children carry with them into kinship care is often compounded by ongoing, complex, family relationships. This can include contact with their parents, which, unlike foster carers, kinship families usually receive no support to manage.