East kinship carer joins calls for vital financial support
Kinship carers will be marching to the Treasury urging the government to better recognise and support them in the cost of childcare
Kinship carers are today (February 12) set to march to the Treasury to demand better financial support.
The role of the kinship carer is to look after a child from the same family whose parent or guardian is unable to care for them.
Their role is similar to that of a foster carer, however many argue their role isn't recognised as such and therefore lacking in support - both financial and emotional.
Among them is Andrew, a kinship carer in East Anglia, who, along with his wife, stepped up to care for a young relative after decades of fostering other children.
Speaking to us, he said: " We had always preferred to do long-term fostering rather than short-term fostering, and we wondered if we were now reaching an age where we may be too old, so we retired from fostering.
"Then, just a few months after that, we were aware of a situation in our wider family, and social services called us and asked us if we would be willing to care for our relative.
"Having looked after other people's children for so long, we felt we couldn't really say no to someone from our own family."
Kinship carers, who currently look after over 132,000 children in England, often step in during a crisis to prevent children from entering the care system.
However, unlike foster carers, they do not receive routine financial support from the government, leaving many struggling to afford the costs of raising a child.
Andrew, from Watford, noted the stark differences in support between foster carers and kinship carers.
"Most kinship carers are encouraged, even pushed towards something called a Special Guardianship Order," he explained, "which actually gives permanency to the child, which is a good thing, however, in lots of cases, it releases social services from the same level of involvement.
"So when we were foster carers, we got regular visits from social workers, as would the child. There’d be regular meetings at school, there’d be a whole package of people involved. But it felt to us that after the Special Guardianship Order was signed, that team quickly fell away, and there's just a tiny bit of support there, but nowhere near the same level."
Financially, kinship carers also find themselves at a disadvantage. And for many, this financial strain has significant consequences.
Andrew added: "Lots of kinship carers, like lots of parents, are going without meals to feed their children.
"This child came into our life at a time we didn't plan for them to come into our life. So we're not financially set up. We haven’t got the plans around how we're going to care for this child. So the financial pressures are severe."
The march to the Treasury, which will feature up to 50 kinship carers pushing shopping trolleys filled with essential items, aims to highlight the financial strain they face.
A new report by the charity Kinship estimates that kinship carers contribute more than £4.3 billion a year to the economy—the amount it would cost the state if these children were instead placed into foster care.
The charity is urging the government to accelerate plans for financial allowances for all kinship families across the country.
Dr Lucy Peake, chief executive of Kinship, stressed the need for urgent action, and said: "It is time to take notice of the commitment and collective sacrifices kinship carers make to raise children against all odds, so that they can keep them in a family home and out of the care system".
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
“We have inherited a children’s social care system in need of wholesale reform - and kinship care has been overlooked for too long.
“We are determined to change that and have already announced £40m to trial a financial allowance for kinship carers in 10 local authorities and are introducing a new law to make sure councils set out clear support for local carers - breaking down barriers to opportunity for children across the country as part of our Plan for Change.”