Kinship carers need to be afforded the same support as foster carers by the next government - Kelly Taylor

Many kinship families across the country are living in poverty, and most do not receive financial support to cover the basic costs of raising children, like a foster carer would.

Children in kinship care have usually had a challenging start to life, including trauma and loss, but most do not qualify for therapeutic or emotional support the way that a child under local authority care might.

When I stepped up to raise my little nephew, who was aged just 18 months at the time and had been taken into foster care, I didn’t know much about what was in store. Pregnant, and with a three-year-old of my own, I realised that raising three young kids was going to be chaotic, but even as the long and rigorous assessments by social work teams and courts were taking place, no one prepared me for the huge changes on their way for me and my family. I hadn’t even heard the term kinship carer before. I didn’t know I was one.

I had to work out how I was going to pay for this extra member of the family. It wasn't like he came to live with us with all of his belongings. He had nothing. How would I pay for the bed, the pram, the new safety gates, the new car seat? Let alone the extra food and clothing that comes with raising a growing boy. I had to navigate a court and social care system with no prior knowledge of them. My nephew had additional needs, as well as early life trauma, and I had no idea how I was going to get him the help he needed. I knew no-one in the same position – who had taken in a family member or friend’s child – there was no-one to ask for advice.

Recently, kinship families like mine were delighted to be recognised, for the first time, in the manifestos of the major political parties. For years, kinship carers like me have tirelessly campaigned to get decision-makers to take notice of the challenges faced by kinship families. The inclusions in the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat manifestos go some way to a sense of feeling acknowledged, however, more must be done to ensure that kinship carers are financially and emotionally supported in the way that they deserve to be.

In Yorkshire and The Humber alone, it is estimated that over 16,000 children are currently growing up in kinship care. Unfortunately, nearly half of carers in the region rated the support they received by their local authorities as poor or very poor. Kinship carers in Yorkshire and the Humber are at breaking point. Almost 2,000 children could be at risk of entering local authority care if the situation does not improve.

The next government has an incredible opportunity to afford kinship families that have offered so much love and hope to children, the support they need. Kinship, the leading charity supporting kinship carers in England and Wales, is calling on the next government to continue building the momentum seen within the manifestos and ensure that kinship carers finally get financial support on a par with foster carers. With more than two thirds of kinship households being deprived, this is a vital step in ensuring children do not move into local authority care.

Kelly Taylor is a kinship carer from Bradford.