It is estimated that 200-300,000 children in the United Kingdom who cannot live with their parents are being brought up by grandparents, older siblings or other wider family members or friends. This may be because of parental mental or physical ill health, domestic abuse, divorce or separation, alcohol or substance misuse, imprisonment or bereavement.
Key facts
Children raised by family and friends carers feel loved and secure and report high levels of satisfaction;
Family and friends placements offer more stability than unrelated care;
Family and friends carers show a high level of commitment;
The children have experienced similar adversities to those in the care system but they and their carers received much less support;
Many family and friends carers live in impoverished circumstances, which impacts on the children,
For example:
3 out 4 of such carers experience severe financial hardship;
49% of kinship carers had to give up work permanently to raise the children.
“I lost my job as a direct result of having time off to attend court, care for the baby and attend his hospital appointments etc. My husband took redundancy and we had to sell our home and most of the furniture in order to pay the legal costs and fund a move of over 350 miles away to ensure the safety of our grandson...”
Many such carers face crippling legal costs to secure the child’s future;
8 out 10 people agree that family and friends carers should receive financial support.
Famous people raised by family and friends carers
To name but a few ...President Barack Obama, Morgan Freeman, Naomi Campbell. Who else? Click here to find out...
- Find up-to-date news about family and friends. This provides information on our latest family and friends care briefings, publications, events and campaigns. You can also subscribe for free to our regular e-newsletter on family and friends care.
- We carry out and publish research into the needs and circumstances of children in family and friends care, and their carers. Read about our latest research findings on family and friends care including recommendations and tips for practitioners and policy makers about good practice at local and national level.
- It is often older siblings who are raising their young brothers and sisters, yet until now they’ve had no recognition and little if any support despite the many challenges they face. Our sibling carers webpage includes findings from the first study into sibling care.
- We are leading members of The Kinship Care Alliance. This is a group of organisations that campaign together to promote family and friends care. We believe that more children should be raised with family and friends instead of going into care, but the family and friends carers should be properly supported. Find out more about the Kinship Care Alliance’s policy and campaign agenda.
- From 30th September 2011, every English council is supposed to have a local Family and Friends Care Policy on their website, and a named manager who is responsible for making sure the policy is implemented. You can find your local council's policy and named manager for kinship care on this webpage, if they have them and they have told us. We have researched these policies, who has them and who doesn't, the good practice and the bad.
- We run training courses for social workers and other practitioners who work with family and friends carers, as well as conferences and events for carers, children and young people, policy makers and practitioners. We can also provide consultancy for local authorities on developing their family and friends care policies and services, on assessment, on setting up support groups and establishing a family group conference service.
- In this section you can find out about our latest campaigns and how you could get involved.
- There is a separate section of the website on Help and Advice, where, if you are a family and friends carer, or you are thinking of becoming one, you can find out about the advice and support we can give you.