Cumbria Fostering
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Kinship care

Grandma and child

What is Kinship Care?

Are you raising someone else’s child? If so, you may be a Kinship Carer

Kinship carers are relatives or family friends who come forwards to raise a child when their parents are not able to care for them. Kinship carers can be grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, relatives or family friends. 

Kinship care is also known as ‘family and friends care’, ‘connected care’ or ‘relative care’ and has always been with us. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, brothers, cousins and close friends have always come forward to keep children in the family when there is a crisis or breakdown of relationships.  

Children are cared for in a kinship care arrangement because their parents cannot give them the support and care they need. This may be because of:

  • the death of the child's parent
  • parental drug or alcohol abuse
  • neglect
  • domestic abuse in their home

Each child and family’s situation will be different, but you are not alone. 

Across the UK there are growing numbers of people who are becoming kinship carers – with more than 162,000 children being raised in kinship care in England and Wales alone.

In Cumbria we have more than 300* families with Special Guardianship Orders and around 100* families currently fostering or being assessed to foster a family member. 

*These figures don’t include children subject to child arrangement orders or private family arrangements. 

Different types of kinship care

The term kinship care covers a variety of situations:

  • Informal or private kinship arrangement between the child’s parents and relatives
  • Private fostering (this is different to foster care and does not usually involve the Kinship team)
  • Local authority foster care with family and friends (Family & Friends Foster Care)
  • Kinship Care with Residence Order, Special Guardianship Order, or Child Arrangements Order.

How we can support you:

Training and support in your area

We currently run monthly online support groups and training which you can access. Please email SGOsupport@cumbria.gov.uk to be on the mailing list to be invited for these. We regularly have different speakers who can offer support and advice. We can tailor these support groups to include specific subjects on request. 

We offer coffee and chat sessions at different areas in the county, these are more informal and are an opportunity for our Kinship carers to meet each other and build their support networks with others in a similar situation to themselves. 

We also run face to face training throughout the county and have a large range of e-learning online training available to all our carers. To get involved please contact SGOsupport@cumbria.gov.uk 

Virtual School

We have a virtual school for each authority which can offer information, advice and support to schools, nurseries and colleges, children's social care teams and parents and guardians in relation to previously looked after children.

Virtual School - Previously CLA | Cumbria County Council (cumberland.gov.uk)

Independent support and advice:

Family Action

We have commissioned an independent service, Family Action PAC UK, to offer support and advice to kinship carers in Cumbria.

The service is one of a targeted website providing information and guidance further supported by a helpline that can be contacted by phone/email/text message or web chat. The website is available 24 hours a day and the helpline service is available 9am to 9pm Monday to Friday. 

Advice line: 020 7284 5879 

Email: advice@pac-uk.org 

Website: www.specialguardiansupport.org.uk 

Fostering Network

For those Kinship Carers who become foster carers for their relative and friend’s child, there is access to free independent support and advice available from the Fostering Network.

https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/

Support for children

All children who are involved with the local authority will have their own social worker. If there are court proceedings there will also be a court appointed Guardian through CAFCASS who advocates to the court on behalf of the child. These used to be could court welfare officers (link to CAFCASS Website)

There is also an independent advocacy service called NYAS which helps children and young people if they find it hard to make their own views known.

Other support

Kinship Compass - https://kinship.org.uk/

Family Rights Group - https://frg.org.uk/

Fostering Network - https://www.thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/

Family Action - https://www.family-action.org.uk/

What to do if you are worried about a child? ­- https://www.cumberland.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/children-and-families/concerns-about-child

Cumbria Safeguarding children’s partnership - https://cumbriasafeguardingchildren.co.uk/