Lucy Peake of Grandparent Plus gave a presentation on kinship care in the UK at the IFCO seminar in London early last month. It was striking how heartwarming and heartbreaking the situation she described was, at the same time. Heartwarming because of the large numbers of people willing to take the child of a relative or good friend into their home. And heartbreaking because of how little support they are given and the terrible situations that this can lead to.
There are an estimate 200,000 children in kinship care in the UK. This can be temporary, permanent, formal or informal. There is a lack of data on children in kinship care, the only thing there is to go on, is the data from the census. Whether kinship carers get any support at all, various widely. And it is mostly dependent on whether the child has officially ‘entered care’.
If the child has in fact ‘entered care’, meaning that they have spent at least 24 hours in a formal alternative care placement, then they are in the system and are eligible to the support services that are part of that. If they have not entered the care system, so if they were informally placed with a family member, or if social services called family members to see if they could take the child immediately, without the need to place them in emergency foster care or residential care, then there tends to be no support at all. There are even cases where a kinship carers is taking care of two siblings, where one is in the care system and the other one is not, meaning that one of them has access to a whole range of support, and the other one does not.
Many kinship carers feel that social services – and politicians – take a ‘dump and run’ appraoch to kinship care. They try to avoid having children enter the system, by placing them with a relative as quickly as possible, and once the child has been placed, she is no longer their concern. Only one in ten kinship carers is getting the support they need.
The government brushes off complaints by saying that kinship carers have the right to the same support and benefits as parents. But this loses sight of the fact that children who end up in kinship care have generally experienced severe loss or serious abuse or neglect. These are children who need additional support and who face serious challenges. Kinship carers are seriously struggling. They do not always have the financial means to meet all the costs involved in raising (additional) children. And a survey showed that many kinship carers reported deteriorated physical and mental health after taking in the children.
Despite the serious struggles on the part of kinship carers, another survey showed that the outcomes are better for children in kinship care than for those in foster care or residential care. Continuing to be a part of their own family, to build up their identity and not losing their sense of belonging plays a big part in this.
However, just because outcomes are better for children in kinship care, this is no excuse for saying that there is no need to provide more support. If kinship carers are put under too much pressure, without the needed support, then these placements can break down too and children will still end up in other alternative care settings, more traumatised than before. Plus, just think how much better the outcomes could be if children and kinship carers were being offered the support they need.
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I have 2 of my grandchildren on sgo gs 4 been here most of his life gd nearly 2 been her nearly a year both were in foster care with parents both been abuse and neglected gd more than gs . Gd need therapy has anger issue separation anxiety and doesn’t speak this is now effecting our gs and although we have done the groups and everything possible social services will not help they don’t even return emails or phone calls how can we help the children if no one will help us it’s wrong and social services are inadvertently abusing the children again our children have no rights once sgo is granted you get promised every thing and get nothing for them I have received a cot £50 clothing grant and a set of monitors for my gd because she doesn’t cry out at night even when sick so could choke herself I got the monitors no support nothing no respite no help with contact no help with therapy groups dump and run is a perfect name for sgo and kinship I would never give up on my grand children never but birth mother has gone on after having five children taken to have another child and well in foster care getting every thing she wants and needs thousands of pounds spent when shes already doing the same to this child how can that be right the money spent on her placement would be better spent on the sgo kinship children surely
Thank you for sharing your story Ms Callister. I’m very sorry to hear how much you are struggling and admire your determination for your grandchildren regardless. And you are right, it is not fair. I really hope that this will get through to the powers that be eventually and that you will get the support you need.