Kinship

Join us at a Kinship Roadshow! ✨ You’ve probably heard us mention our Kinship Roadshows a lot this year —but what is it like to attend one, and what should you expect?     🎥 In this film we accompany Kieron, a kinship carer to his three grandchildren, as he attends a Kinship Roadshow for the first time. Together, we share the experience as Kieron explores the event, connects with other kinship carers, participates in workshop sessions, and reflects on his own kinship journey.    💬 At each Roadshow, we have a Kinship Marketplace providing local and national organizations the opportunity to offer resources, signposting and advice to kinship carers. If you would like your organization to be part of our Marketplace, please do get in touch: networks@kinship.org.uk 📧    💛If you’re a kinship carer, we really hope this film inspires you to come along to a Kinship Roadshow —a chance to connect, share, and discover support in a welcoming space. View available Roadshows and book your place: kinship.org.uk/roadshows   We’d like to say a special thank you to kinship carers Kieron, Theresa, James, Lesley, Angela, Michelle and Aileen for helping us capture the Kinship Roadshow spirit on film! 🥰 Plus a huge thank you to our friends at MOREVER for bringing this project to life 🌟

It's fantastic to see that Asda has become one of a growing number of major UK retailers to offer paid leave to #KinshipCarers - relatives and friends who step up to raise a child who can't live with their parents. 💼 Without statutory backing for #KinshipCare leave, as there is for maternity and adoption leave, Asda's new policy shows a really strong commitment to the kinship carers in its workforce. This will make an enormous difference to many kinship carers across the country, who will now be able to take paid time off to support children who have often experienced trauma and focus on their needs, knowing they will have a job to return to. Our Forced Out report, published last year, found that 86% of kinship carers were either forced out of the workforce or forced to reduce their hours when they took on the care of a child. Learn more: https://loom.ly/37xISxY Our Kinship Friendly Employers scheme provides employers of all sizes with all of the support they need to recognise, value and support all kinship carers in their workforce, including by providing paid kinship care leave. Learn more about our Kinship Friendly Employers scheme: https://loom.ly/TmD0RSI As well as working with employers to develop policies to better support kinship carers in the workplace, Kinship's #ValueOurLove campaign has long called for Government to introduce statutory kinship care leave on a par with adoption leave. The government is planning a review of the parental leave system later this year and we are urging them to include kinship care leave within the scope of this.

A new report, published today by Kinship and the Rees Centre at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, reveals the challenges faced by Black and Asian #KinshipCarers when trying to access crucial support. 📝 The report’s findings suggest that while Black and Asian kinship carers face similar challenges to other kinship families, they also experienced additional challenges due to their ethnicity, including cultural stigma, systemic racism and limited access to support and tailored services. Most of the Black and Asian kinship carers involved in the research said when they asked for help nothing was offered, leaving them feeling abandoned by the system.❗ To read the report visit: https://loom.ly/Ul6jKAg Figures suggest that 1 in every 5 children of the 120,000 children living in #KinshipCare in England are being raised by minority ethnic kinship carers. However, there has been a major gap in new research on the experience of kinship carers in Black and Asian communities, with organisations and service providers often not knowing what support to offer. This research aims to address these gaps. The findings will be used to ensure that services provided by Kinship and other organisations, plus policy and practice within Children’s Services are aligned to the specific needs of Black and Asian kinship carers. We’d like to say a huge thank you to our partners at the Rees Centre at the Department of Education, University of Oxford (especially Julie Selwyn and Dr Priya Tah) as well as to the KPMG Foundation for supporting this important research and wider programme of work. And thank you to all the kinship carers who took part in this research project. This work is only possible because they bravely and generously shared their experiences with us so we can learn and make change happen. 👏 Kinship will be hosting a workshop for kinship carers and professionals next month which will take the report findings and translate them into an action plan for the sector, including outlining what Kinship’s commitment to Black and Asian kinship carers will be. 💻 We remain committed to continuing to shine a light on the diverse experiences of kinship carers, ensuring that their voices are heard, and advocating for better, more inclusive support systems that reflect the needs of all families in kinship care. 💛

Join us at our upcoming webinar – Better Outcomes for Kinship Families Through Tailored Preventative Support, 3rd April, 10AM. We are delighted to host a joint webinar with @Cheshire & Merseyside’s (C&M) Assessment Hub and Kinship, the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales. As part of the Trailblazer Pilot, the local authorities in C&M collaborated with Kinship to give kinship carers in the area access to Kinship Reach, a three-month trauma-informed support programme to build confidence and resilience in carers. Join Yvonne Reinhardt from MV and Becky Brown from C&M’s Assessment Hub, alongside colleagues from Kinship to learn more about this collaboration and its impact. Register now: https://lnkd.in/eqpbJiAW #FamilyJustice

Last week we voiced our concerns about the ongoing uncertainty around the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund and the detrimental impact this is having on #KinshipFamilies who desperately need therapeutic support. Kinship's CEO Dr Lucy Peake said this can be a “vital lifeline for many kinship families" and “if we are to avoid the catastrophe of children being placed back into an already overstretched care system, it is essential that additional funding... is confirmed as soon as possible." In an Education Committee evidence session last week, the Minister for Children and Families Janet Daby MP told MPs: “I am aware of the uncertainty and the insecurity that that is causing because, obviously, the announcement has not been made... “But I absolutely understand, and I hear and I do get it. I am hearing from organisations as well around this, and I am doing everything I can to push this forward.” The ASGSF remains a crucial part of the very limited offer available to eligible kinship families. We will continue to urge the Minister to ensure that additional funding for the ASGSF beyond this month is confirmed as soon as possible. Learn more: https://loom.ly/CbiZPn0

It was a pleasure to host our Kinship Roadshow in Hull for a group of amazing #KinshipCarers as part of our training and support service. Kinship carers built connections with each other, took part in bespoke workshops designed to support them in their caring role, and met with local organisations offering support. We want to say a big thank you to the organisations who came along to support our Kinship Marketplace in Hull. Royal National Children's SpringBoard Foundation, East Riding Virtual School, Home-Start (Hull), Hull Libraries , Ridley & Hall Solicitors, and BookTrust. The resources, signposting and advice they were able to offer kinship carers on the day was extremely valuable. We're excited to be running more Roadshows in different locations across England from May - keep an eye on our socials for more details soon! 📍 Find out more about all our events for kinship carers: kinship.org.uk/events

Hurray, we won an award! 🏆 Congratulations to the kinship carers for creating such a powerful and impactful animation. 🥳

#KinshipCarers win gold at the Smiley Charity Film Awards! 🏆 We are absolutely thrilled to share that our #ThisIsKinshipCare animation film that we launched last year during #KinshipCareWeek won the 'People's Choice Awards' in our category last night. 🎉 This achievement wouldn't have been possible without Kieron and Zoe and the other three kinship carers who wrote and voiced the film alongside My Pockets film studio. Kieron and Zoe were thrilled to accept the award on behalf of the group from presenter Lisa Snowdon. 👏 By bravely sharing their personal kinship stories and experiences they have been able to reveal what life is really like being part of a #KinshipFamily and help raise much needed awareness of #KinshipCare. 💛 Zoe said: "It was an absolute privilege to accept the award on behalf of Kinship and all kinship carers." Kieron shared: "I hope that anyone who watches our film feels like they are not alone on their kinship journey. There are hundreds and thousands of us just waiting to tell our stories." A huge thank you to everyone who voted and shared our film, helping the film to be seen by so many people and ultimately win the popular vote. 👏 In case you missed it, you can watch the film here: https://loom.ly/i3H-y6I 🎬

We were thrilled to see #kinshipcarer Michelle Hall share her kinship care journey at the annual Virtual School Heads conference in Leeds. It is always a pleasure to work collaboratively with Virtual School Heads to amplify the kinship carer journey, supporting them to champion the educational attendance, attainment and progress of children in #kinshipcare following the extension to Virtual School Heads in the National Kinship Care Strategy in 2023. Kinship’s Forgotten Report highlights the significance of support from Virtual School Heads for kinship families who told us that it is incredibly valuable to them and their children, with staff from Virtual Schools often going above and beyond to support kinship families. In Leeds we have been able to work extremely closely with Virtual Schools through our Kinship Connected programme commissioned by the local authority, delivering holistic support directly to kinship families, alongside services like Virtual Schools to ensure kinship families have the right support at the right time. Well done to Michelle for bravely sharing her kinship carer story with the audience of designated teachers, helping them to think about how they can support and inspire kinship families. A huge thank you to Jancis Andrew, Virtual School Head in Leeds and Trustee at the board of the National Association of Virtual School Heads for inviting kinship carers into this space.

Share our new powerful short film made by young people growing up in #KinshipCare. 💛 Written and voiced in their own words, they share their experiences and what it means to be part of a #KinshipFamily. 🎬 This film was made as part of our Young Champion’s film project funded by BBC Children in Need which provided a unique and safe space for the young people to share their experiences to influence action and change by co-creating the animation. Watch the entire film on our YouTube channel: https://loom.ly/qKy3Fn0 👀 The project gave the young people the opportunity to create a film to help others understand the conflicting emotions they feel, as well as the highs and lows they face as they adjust to their new lives in a kinship family. By opening up about their own experiences, they hope that this will help other children in kinship care feel less invisible and isolated. Ki, 19, from West London, who took part in the project and who has been living with his uncle and aunt said: “We want the film to raise awareness among children and young people in kinship care who may not know what kinship care is. We also want to encourage the Government to make positive change happen for kinship families. “Kinship children and young people need support, and we want to let them know that they don’t have to face this journey on their own and that it’s going to be ok. “Helping to make this film has been a great experience, it’s been interesting, positive and fun and I am really proud of what we’ve created.” Since 2021 the Young Champion’s Project has brought together young people living in kinship care across London and surrounding areas. Throughout the project, participants have enjoyed a range of enriching activities, including football stadium tours, graffiti workshops and DJ sessions. Dr Lucy Peake said: "We celebrate the achievements of the Young Champion’s project and we remain committed to providing opportunities to young people in kinship care to share their experiences with decision-makers to increase understanding of their unique needs and the lack of support.”