Family carers must get the financial support they deserve | Letters

Mike Stein says kinship carers provide a strong family and cultural identity; Nina Lopez, Micheleine Kane and Kim Sparrow say mothers must be supported so that their children can stay with them; a kinship carer who wishes to remain anonymous has nothing but praise for his social services team; Stan Labovitch says the two-parent family is still the bedrock of society

Louise Tickle importantly identifies the legal barriers to kinship carers receiving financial support (Family carers need our help, 8 December). The statistics are stark. In 2017 only 6,310 (3.5%) of the 180,000 children in kinship care were legally entitled to financial and professional support. It is also of note that in England only 9% of “looked after” children are placed with kinship carers compared to just under half in Spain, and there is also the injustice of opportunity arising from great variations between English local authorities.

Research shows that kinship carers provide a strong family and cultural identity, the child not seeing themselves as “in care”, and they stick with them through troubled times, even when lacking financial, practical and personal support. This evidence clearly suggests the urgent need for all kinship carers to receive legal recognition and resources as part of a continuum of preventative and care services for vulnerable children and their families.
Professor Mike Stein
University of York

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from Children | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2AS0VfU