Children are being “plunged into poverty”, a charity says, because of a lack of support for kinship carers – relatives or family friends who step in to look after children after a crisis.
Kinship carers, who are often grandparents, are twice as likely as other adults to rely on food banks and four times as likely to fall behind on their bills, according to a new report.
Kinship, the charity that supports such carers, also found that the lack of financial, practical and emotional support available meant that one in eight carers felt they might have to give up their caring responsibilities in the next year. That would push as many as 18,000 children into an already overstretched foster care system, the charity said.
The report, which surveyed 1,300 carers in England and Wales, comes after the National Fostering Group warned last week that there was a shortage of 12,500 foster carers across the UK, a rise of 14%.
Foster carers who look after 70,000 children in the UK get training, access to support and time off work, as well as allowances averaging about £24,500 a year for each child. In contrast, there are more than 141,000 children in kinship care in England and Wales, and most of their carers receive little or no financial support, and have no right to take time off work.
Fiona is 65 years old and began looking after her grandson about six years ago when he was four and a half months old. She had a well-paid job in a local factory in Dorset that she loved.
Fiona tried to work from home but had to give up her job because of the demands of looking after a toddler. She now survives on universal credit, uses food banks and doesn’t turn on the heating “unless it’s absolutely necessary”.
Although Fiona said her grandson was “really sweet”, he also has challenging behaviour and she has struggled to get help. “I broke down at school and said ‘I can’t deal with this – this placement is going to break down if I don’t get any help’. Suddenly I got lots of help,” she said. “There should be a level playing field for carers.”
Rebekah, who is 63, is raising her two grandchildren. Her daughter had an auto-immune condition and died suddenly in January 2020. Although they were traumatised by their mother’s death, Rebekah said the children were unable to get therapy.
“We’re also really struggling financially,” she said. “Because I got a special guardianship order, there isn’t any other support available.”
Many kinship carers feel they were pushed into becoming guardians without being told it would mean less support than fostering.
“I get child benefit, universal credit and my widow’s pension and that’s it,” Rebekah said. “It’s very difficult. We’re struggling for the basics.”
Lucy Peake, Kinship’s chief executive, said: “Children are bearing the brunt of the lack of support for kinship carers. We all understand the need for financially supporting children through foster care … But iIn every school playground there are also children who are living with grandparents, or an older sister, or a kind nextdoor neighbour, because their parents are unable to look after them.
These children should not be plunged into poverty just because the person who stepped up to care for them already knew them.”
Peake said now was a “pivotal moment” when the new government could “[tackle] the existing, unjust system … ensuring every kinship carer is given what they need to raise the children in their care.
“The secretary of state for education Bridget Phillipson, told kinship carers before the election: ‘Labour will not forget you’. Now is the time to make good on that promise.”
Janet Daby, the minister for children and families, said kinship carers had not been recognised for “the vital role that they play or the challenges they can often face – whether financial or emotional”.
She said: “We will drive change right across the children’s social care system, prioritising reform to support kinship families.”