The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, published in May 2022, places a strong emphasis on kinship care, calling for “far greater recognition and support” for kinship carers as well as several other recommendations to improve outcomes for children and families in kinship care. The recently introduced Kinship Care Bill also calls for improved support for kinship carers. Despite this growing awareness of the need to improve support for kinship carers, there is still much that is unknown about how kinship care is used and the support which kinship carers receive.
WWCSC’s research has recently revealed a high degree of variation in the use of kinship care across England, ranging from 4% to 39% across local authorities and we are currently working to understand the reasons behind this variation.
This event will provide an opportunity to explore the causes of variation in rates of kinship care, the challenges facing kinship carers, and the support which they receive. We will hear from a range of speakers, including from WWCSC, who will reflect on the current issues in kinship care and discuss how we can improve our understanding of the causes of variation in kinship care rates. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions of the panel.
Programme:
10:00 – Welcome & introduction
Aoife O’Higgins – Director of Research, WWCSC
10:10 – Trends in the regional variation of kinship care
Eva Schoenwald – Senior Researcher, WWCSC
10:30 – How do the courts impact rates of special guardianship?
Prof Judith Harwin – Professor in Socio-Legal Studies, Lancaster University
10:50 – Managing risk in kinship care
Ann Horne – Kinship Consultant, CoramBAAF
11:10 – Break
11:20 – The challenges facing kinship carers
Sharon McPherson – Co-Founder, Families in Harmony
11:40 – What support do kinship carers need?
Sam Turner – Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Kinship
12:00 – Break
12:10 – Panel Q&A
12:35 – Summary & close
Aoife O’Higgins – Director of Research, WWCSC
12:45 – Finish