Family Rights Group is calling on the Government to transform the lives of children who cannot live at home with their parents, by putting kinship care provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, and into new employment rights legislation. With record numbers of looked-after children, the charity says it’s time to build a child welfare system which fairly supports more children to live with relatives and close family friends.
Across England there are over 153,000 children in England living with grandparents, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, and other relatives or friends, in kinship care. Research shows that despite kinship care providing better outcomes than other forms of non-parental care, it is too often undervalued and under-supported. Kinship families struggle to access the practical, emotional and financial support they need.
Meanwhile, there are record numbers of looked-after children in the care system. More children could be living safely in their family with the right support, as the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care highlighted.
Family Rights Group’s ‘Act for kinship care’ campaign is proposing four transformative measures to be included in primary legislation:
For the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to include:
- A statutory definition of kinship care. To improve recognition and understanding of kinship care in all its forms and establish the foundation for an effective support system.
- A duty on local authorities to develop and publish a local offer for kinship families, setting out how they will support kinship families.
- Introducing a legal right for families to be offered a family group conference before social workers consider going to court to remove their children. To allow families to take a lead in finding safe solutions, including identifying potential kinship carers.
For the Employment Rights Bill to include:
- A right to paid employment leave, akin to adoption leave, to support kinship carers to remain in work while giving them time to settle children into their new home.
“This is a generational opportunity to build the foundations of an effective support system for kinship care,” said Cathy Ashley, Chief Executive of Family Rights Group.
“Our research, and experience from our specialist national advice service, shows that too often the support that family and friends can offer children is not explored. And when kinship carers step in to provide a home or children within their family, the state does not step up to provide the support those families need.
“While there have been some welcome moves forward in support provision including the national kinship care strategy, we need to get the basics right. New legislation can ensure exploring family first is hardwired into the system, and that kinship care in all its forms is recognised in law. Without that, we’ll never see an effective and fair system of financial and practical support for children and kinship carers in place.”
Clare Walsh, kinship carer and 2024 parliamentary candidate, said:
“As a kinship carer to two children I have struggled with the current system and the lack of support available. I ran for Parliament because legislative change is desperately needed by kinship families. The changes we are asking for would lead to greater happiness, health and success for one of the most vulnerable groups of people in our society; children who have often experienced tragedy and trauma.
“The new Government knows the impact of growing up in poverty, and too many children experience this. Too many carers are forced out of work and into the welfare system. A right to paid employment leave would mean they could remain in work, lifting themselves and their children out of poverty. But it also needs to start with getting the basics right. Defining kinship care in law would cut through the misunderstanding we face. No family should be confronted by police officers while their kinship child lays in a hospital bed struggling to breathe, the way I was.
“Family first makes sense for our children and society and should be the default.”
A Call to Action
The Children’s Wellbeing Bill and Employment Rights legislation are expected to be published in the Autumn. Family Rights Group is inviting politicians, families and the sector to join this call to ensure this opportunity is not missed.
“We are calling on MP, Peers, practitioners, sector organisations, and families to rally behind this call for legislation,” Cathy added. “Kinship care is firmly on the political agenda. But children only get one childhood and that time is precious. We must do better by kinship families now.”
The four proposals are informed by the charity’s work with kinship families and in the system.
- The lack of a single definition of kinship care in primary legislation is resulting in confusion and misunderstanding. That includes kinship carers not being recognised in their parenting role by hospital services, schools, or employers.
- The charity found that over a third of local authorities do not currently have an up-to-date kinship care policy, despite being required to do so in statutory guidance. Families struggle to understand what support is available to them in their area.
- Family group conferences are an independently evaluated approach used widely but not consistently, which galvanise the strengths of a child’s family and friends to take a lead in making decisions about their welfare, before the courts get involved. Research by Foundations, the national What Works Centre for Children & Families, highlighted how over 2000 children per year could safely avoid the care system through Family Group Conferences.
- Over half of kinship carers have to give up work or reduce their hours when a child comes to lives with them, surveys by Family Rights Group have found. Families are forced into financial hardship and welfare dependency as a result.
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