New Kinship research reveals urgent need to improve financial support for kinship carers

A new report by Kinship, the leading charity for kinship carers in the UK, shows that a lack of financial and other support is stopping kinship foster carers moving to kinship arrangements outside the care system.

Kinship says: "Our analysis of Department for Education figures and data obtained via Freedom of Information requests reveal that despite a growing number of children entering and remaining in kinship foster care in the last five years, movement to kinship arrangements outside of the care system has stalled.

Our survey of kinship carers finds that four in 10 children in kinship foster care are not expected to move to other kinship arrangements outside the care system. While kinship carers want permanence and stability, they say they do not want to lose vital financial and other support for themselves and their children.

Kinship’s data backs up kinship carer fears and shows that special guardians on average receive £40 less per child per week compared to kinship foster carers, while kinship carers with a child arrangements order receive around £54 less per week per child.

Our publication, Out of Order, argues that this helps to explain why many kinship foster carers are reluctant to move away from this arrangement, and why some special guardians report feeling pushed or bullied into moving on from kinship foster care by children’s services."