Family Rights Group | Kinship carers’ Forum

Hello to all kinship carers,

We know from our work supporting kinship families that the pandemic has put a lot of extra pressure on kinship carers and the children you are raising.

During the first lockdown we carried out a survey and heard from more than 650 kinship carers raising over 1000 kinship children. You told us what you were finding difficult and the steps that would help and we presented that to MPs and the Government and lobbied for better support.

This week the Prime Minister announced a third national lockdown, one that is likely to last until at least mid-February, which we know will be difficult for many families who have already had to deal with so much.

We’ve launched a new survey, on behalf of the Parliamentary Taskforce on Kinship Care, to hear how carers like yourself are coping during the latest lockdown and what actions you would like to see to improve the situation for your family.

Fill it in here. The survey will take 15 minutes to fill in and your feedback will be invaluable to inform those in positions of power how the latest stage of the pandemic is affecting kinship carers and the immediate steps they could take to make a difference.

Please share it with any other kinship carers as the more families we hear from the better.

With best wishes,

Family Rights Group

Hello,

Thank you to all the kinship carers who took the time to fill out our recent survey on your experience during the latest lockdown.

We’ve heard from 605 kinship carers raising 889 kinship children, who got in touch to tell us and MPs on the Kinship Care Taskforce, how you’re getting on.

• The three biggest worries during the latest stage of the pandemic are the children’s emotional and mental wellbeing (71%), concern for what will happen to them if the carer gets the virus (65%) and the child/children’s education (58%).

• A third of carers had received no support during the course of the pandemic.

• Almost 4 in 10 are facing financial hardship.

• A third (32%) of kinship families indicated they would find support with equipment for remote learning helpful but had not been offered it. 37% expressed the same wish for help with access to broadband/data for remote learning.

The Taskforce have put forward proposals to Government for urgent support to help kinship carers through the latest stage of the pandemic. They include:

• Educational support – ensuring kinship children can access equipment and data for remote learning and catchup support

• Access to therapeutic support by extending the Adoption Support Fund

• More flexible welfare support and employment leave and protection to prevent kinship care families from being pushed into severe poverty

• Extension of legal aid for special guardians in private law proceedings, as has been promised by the Ministry of Justice

• For kinship carers to be regarded as key workers for the vaccine priority list.

You can read the full report and results of the survey on our website.

Kinship carers may wish to get in touch with their own Member of Parliament to ask them to give their support to the Taskforce’s proposals. If you do not know who your local MP is, you can find out here.

With best wishes,

Family Rights Group