Kinship Care Week ran from 13 to 17 March 2023 and it was our chance to celebrate kinship families and raise awareness of the role of kinship carers.
Kinship care is when a child lives full-time or most of the time with a relative or friend who isn’t their parent, usually because their parents aren’t able to care for them. That relative or friend is called a ‘kinship carer’, and it’s estimated that around half of kinship carers are grandparents, but many other relatives including older siblings, aunts, uncles, as well as family friends and neighbours can also be kinship carers.
There are lots of different types of kinship care, and if you’re a kinship carer, you might find that as circumstances change, the type of kinship carer you are may change too. Kinship care includes children who may be:
- living in an informal arrangement made by their parents
- ‘looked after’ by the local authority and placed with kinship foster carers
- on a Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order
Kinship carers are also often referred to as ‘family and friends carers’ or ‘connected people’ by local authorities and in official documents.
If you have any questions regarding kinship foster carers or would like to find out more about becoming a foster carer, please feel free to contact us on 020 8489 3754, or via our dedicated e-form if you prefer:
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