KinshipCarersUk

KinshipCarersUk

At a glance

Causes

  • Children / families
  • Counselling / advice
  • Young people

Other details

Geographical remit: 
Regional

Objectives

Kinship Carers UK is a national not for profit charity. It champions the vital role of Kinship Carers, 'Connected Families' when they take on the challenging role of permanently parenting someone else’s child.

Kinship care consultancy offers the following:

  • Support groups offering advice, emotional support and encouragement

  • Bespoke Kinship care training to carers and professionals

  • Advocacy service and peer support programme for Kinship carers

  • Kinship youth club for children and young people aged 6 - 16

Everything we do is designed to improve the day to day experiences of Kinship families by empowering and supporting them. We listen to what they say about their situation and identify, with them, positive changes that can be made.

Activities

Aims of our work

Create a world where kinship families are recognised, empowered and supported by;      

  • Increase the voice for kinship care and related issues
  • Improve awareness of and support for kinship caring
  • Reduce the number of children going into local authority care
  • Improve professionals’ understanding of the breadth of issues that kinship carers deal with and need support for
  • Establish and improve links with local authorities

Kinship carers

  • Reduce isolation and stress of kinship carers
  • Improve support for kinship families
  • Improve carer’s self-esteem and emotional well being
  • Increase carer’s confidence and skills to become empowered when liaising and negotiating with professionals involved in kinship care

 Children

  • Improve children’s resilience to change, and improve behaviour as they become more stable
  • Build children’s confidence and self-esteem as they adapt to kinship caring
  • Improve children’s emotional and social well-being
  • Enable children to make friends with others in kinship children and young people
  • Increase children’s confidence when dealing with their peers

We do this by:

  • Setting up and providing peer support groups across England to empower and support kinship families
  • Providing advice, advocacy and information to kinship carers
  • Running training on aspects of parenting for kinship carers and coping strategies for children and carers
  • Representing children and young people to ensure their interests are protected
  • Developing programs in conjunction with employers, statutory authorities and the local community to support kinship carers and those children and young people who rely on kinship care.
  • Raising awareness and campaigning for greater recognition of the role played by kinship carers
  • Building partnerships and relationships with professionals and other charities and community groups
  • Mentor programs and implement support for kinship carers and the kinship children

No current opportunities

Search for volunteer opportunities with other organisations.