Many councils neglect kinship care and do not provide equal support to children in such placements, a charity has claimed.
Cathy Ashley is Chief Executive of charity the Family Rights Group. Speaking at the recent Community Care Live conference in Birmingham, she claimed that, amidst a government focus on adoption local authorities routinely overlook kinship care arrangements, in which vulnerable children unable to live with their parents are placed with relatives.
She asked:
“Most councillors are alert to adoption and fostering, they may not know all of their responsibilities, but they are aware they are a corporate parent. But how many have read their kinship care policy?”
Ashley continued:
“How many even know if their authority has a kinship care policy? In the last five years we’ve seen no secretary of state make a speech about kinship care. Compare that to the number of times that adoption has been mentioned”.
Children placed in kinship care arrangements usually have same needs as those who are adopted, but kinship carers receive little to no support, she declared, while several multimillion pound government initiatives to boost adoption have been established.
The Family Rights Group advises families involved with social services.
Sadly our government here is also kicking us under the carpet.