Celebrating our Kinship Carers - Family or friends who step up to raise a child

Corporate Parenting - supporting the children in our care to thrive - in my view, is the most important thing we do as councillors.

In Suffolk, our ambition is to be a fostering service that truly listens. In my time as Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s services, a priority for me has been really getting to know our foster families – not just to hear them but to listen, and to do all I can in my role to make their experiences better.

This week is Kinship Care week, a chance to recognise and celebrate our Kinship Carers, who step up in extraordinary ways to keep children connected to their families, roots and communities.  

Kinship care is when someone with a family connection steps up to care for a child when their parents aren’t able to. Kinship Carers might be grandparents, aunts or uncles, brothers or sisters, a step-parent, stepbrother or stepsister, or someone who isn’t related but knows the child well.

Whatever their relationship to the child, in that moment a commitment is made. To bring love and hope to a child who has experienced trauma, no matter what.

Kinship Foster Carers have a different start to their fostering journey compared with mainstream foster carers. Rarely do Kinship Foster Carers have the time and space to consider their decision regarding becoming a foster carer, as varied and complex, or unexpected circumstances may lead them into this role. The focus of Kinship Care is on the child remaining within their family, and this can come with complexities and challenges.

I have so much time for our Kinship Carers who take on this extraordinary responsibility, at what can often be a very intense time.

I’m always keen to take every opportunity I can to hear from our foster carers, kinship carers, and adopters, and I have heard some very powerful examples of the enormous undertaking our Kinship carers take on. Hearing these stories first-hand, really drives home the huge impact that taking on the responsibility of Kinship Care can have on health and wellbeing, family relationships, work, and other areas of day-to-day life, all while ensuring their child feels safe and loved.

Kinship Care is complex and brings with it its own set of unique needs. Here in Suffolk, our Kinship Team provide bespoke training, home visits, advice and support to Kinship Carers. When an assessment for Fostering or a Special Guardianship Order is the most appropriate way forward, our team help to guide carers through what can often be a difficult and challenging assessment and court process.

We have recently developed our ‘Kinship Local Offer’ which recognises not only the support available from the Kinship Team and Suffolk County Council, but also helps Kinship Carers to navigate their way to support from our partners and voluntary agencies, all of whom are key to providing the support Kinship Carers may need to ensure they are best placed to ensure their own well-being but also meet the needs of the vulnerable children they care for.

Kinship Care week is a time for us to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary people in children's lives that step forward and care for a child when their own parents are unable to care for them. To all our Kinship Cares who take on this extraordinary responsibility, I want to say, Thank you.

If you need support or advice about Kinship Care, please contact Suffolk County Council’s Kinship Team on 01473 265025.