What is Kinship Care? – Everything You Need to Know

When people think of children in care, they are often reminded of foster families and children’s homes. However, a role frequently overlooked is that of a kinship carer. Kinship carers make up over a fifth of all foster carers, with more than 130,000 children in kinship care arrangements in England. 

Kinship carers provide vulnerable children with a safe space to grow and heal around their families and community, which is why it’s essential that legislation keeps up with the needs of carers.

In December 2023, the UK government launched its proposal for its first national kinship strategy, Championing Kinship Care. The initiative hopes to provide financial and wider support, such as updated guidance for local authorities and training. 

In this blog, we explore the role of a kinship carer and how Championing Kinship Care aims to provide well-needed support to carers across England*. 

*FosterTalk support carers across the UK, and it is hoped we can soon understand more about similar initiatives UK wide.

What is kinship care?

Kinship care is when a child who can no longer live at home is placed in the care of a relative or close family acquaintance, such as a grandparent, uncle, aunt or older sibling, teacher, neighbour, etc., rather than an unrelated foster family. 

If kinship care is an option, it is preferable to foster care because it allows the child to maintain family connections, providing a feeling of stability during a difficult time in their life. Kinship care is less disruptive because the child can remain involved in familiar activities, like visiting friends and family members and remaining a part of their communities.

When does kinship care occur?

Kinship care arrangements typically occur when parents are unable to provide a safe level of care for their children due to issues such as mental health or substance abuse, for example. 

In such cases, social workers will first look to the family network to find a suitable and willing caregiver before seeking mainstream foster care options. 

The ultimate goal with all foster care is to reunite the child with their parents, but in the meantime, support is provided within the family network. This helps to ease the transition into care, as it is far less overwhelming for the child to be placed with people they know.

The Championing Kinship Care Initiative 

The aim of the Championing Kinship Care initiative is to explore ways to improve the various avenues of support for carers involved in kinship care arrangements, including special guardianship orders. 

Over the next 12 months (spring 2024 – spring 2025), the government will look into providing better financial support and training opportunities. They also intend to raise awareness of kinship caregiving by forming peer support groups and publishing guidance materials. This includes a guide for employers on how they can help kinship carers navigate the challenges of balancing work with caregiving responsibilities. 

By shining a light on these issues, the government hopes to highlight the benefits of kinship arrangements for children in care and encourage people to come forward and take on the role.  

Championing Kinship Care promises to:

Support families by…

• Launching a kinship financial allowance, paid at the same rate as the fostering allowance, beginning in up to 8 local authorities.
• Expanding the Virtual School Head’s role to promote the education of children in kinship care.
• Ensuring more eligible kinship carers are aware of their ability to access the £48 million Adoption Support Fund, by renaming it to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund, as well as analysing the fund’s applications and the therapies provided.
• Producing government guidance for employers on how kinship carers can be supported at work. This will include advice on adapting HR policies, signposting to workplace entitlements carers can access and create a culture of support.
• Introducing a kinship leave and pay entitlement for Department for Education staff (subject to discussions on the detailed arrangements between the department and employee representatives).
• Establishing a training, information and advice offer that all kinship carers will have access to.
• Sustaining the delivery of peer support groups across England for all kinship carers.

Empower kinship families by…

• Creating a new Kinship Care Ambassador role, to work with local authorities and kinship carers to raise standards and share best practice.
• Improving the availability of advocacy services for children in kinship care by updating guidance and standards.
• Establishing the National Kinship Care Advisory Board and extending the Department for Education’s Kinship Carer Reference Group.
• Partnering with Foundations – the What Works Centre for Children & Families and the sector to work towards every family being offered high quality family group conferences at pre-proceedings stage.
• Using digital innovation to help social workers have a greater understanding of kinship families

Help kinship families be understood by…

• Improving the visibility of kinship carers through a new definition of kinship care that will be used in statutory guidance.
• Publishing an updated version of the 2011 Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities. This will be called Kinship Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities and will clarify how local authorities should support kinship families.
• Creating trust between kinship carers and practitioners by improving social worker training and developing a knowledge and skills statement for family help lead practitioners.
• Confirming that Ofsted are updating their inspector training and guidance, so kinship care is well embedded in inspection practice.
• Agreeing work with the Law Commission to review legal orders and statuses for kinship carers and understanding how we can both simplify and streamline these.
• Working with the Ministry of Justice to improve our understanding of kinship care through better data join up.

Kinship carer support from FosterTalk 

At FosterTalk, we understand that kinship foster care arrangements are unique. Every case involving a child in need comes with its own complexities, especially with the added dynamic of being a family member.

We believe that no carer should ever feel alone. That’s why we have designed a comprehensive kinship care membership that offers the same level of support as our fostering memberships, connecting you with our knowledgeable team to help you navigate the challenges of becoming and being a kinship foster carer. 

To learn more about our memberships, don’t hesitate to contact a member of our team today.