Kinship Care bill

The Kinship Care Bill


On 6th May Katherine Fletcher, MP for South Ribble, will present The Kinship Care (Parental Leave) Bill to the House of Commons for its second reading. This is a Private Members’ Bill and was initially presented to Parliament on Monday 21 June 2021.

The Bill aims to make provision about parental leave for kinship carers who take on responsibility for children whose parents are unable to care for them; and for connected purposes.  The second reading is the first opportunity for MPs to debate the main principles of the Bill.

Here at FosterTalk we fully support the principle of the Bill and await with interest to see further detail as drafts are published.

In essence kinship and connected carers frequently step up to the mark to care for vulnerable children in emergency situations and with little notice, support or assistance.  To enable them to adjust to the role, paid employment leave, similar to that granted to birth and adoptive parents, would make a big difference in what is often a stressful, confusing and emotional situation. Although the detail of what the bill proposes is not yet fully clear, we would be interested to hear people’s views on how ‘parental leave’ would support the kinship carer role, in order for FosterTalk to represent the views of those who have first hand experience of taking on the care of a relative or connected child or young person.

Our kinship carer members tell us they often feel marginalised and secondary to mainstream foster carers, even though they are providing excellent care keeping children safe in very challenging situations they could never have expected to find themselves in.  The challenges of becoming a kinship carer extend way beyond the home and immediate care of the child(ren), affecting employment, finances, retirement plans and family relationships to name but a few, and this group of carers need all the help and support that can be afforded to them.”

FosterTalk Services for Kinship Carers

We support kinship carers by providing legal insurance, helplines, tax advice, 24/7 counselling, medical advice and many more benefits via our household membership. From as little as £3.99 a month our membership ensures that kinship carers receive dedicated support throughout their care journey.  We also provided TSD standards training especially for kinship carers.

Click here to find out more about our household membership for kinship carers.

Click here to find out more about our TSD training for kinship carers

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