The challenges of caring for a relative’s child

KINSHIP carers in the UK experience confusion, pressure and worry when it comes to looking after relatives’ children. Those are the findings of a new report from the charity Grandparents Plus, which claims these carers are having to make “significant sacrifices” for vulnerable children.

A kinship carer is someone who looks after a family member’s child if his or her own parents are unable to provide for and support them.

The care can be provided either formally - such as through a guardianship issued by a court - or informally, such as in an arrangement with the child’s parents.

All carers are eligible for the same benefits as parents and do not need a legal order in place to receive them.

If the local authority placed the child with a family, they have a legal duty to financially support the placement.

The carer should then be treated as a foster carer and paid the minimum government allowance.

But according to Grandparents Plus in many cases local authorities will argue that they did not formally place the child in care and that the arrangement is private or informal.

If the local authority did not do so, then any financial support becomes discretionary and means tested.

In many cases the carers have to challenge local authorities for financial support through the complaints process - which leads to confusion and worry.

The majority of carers who responded to the survey were grandparents (83%).

The rest were made up of aunts, uncles, siblings, great grandparents and friends.

More than half of respondents (53%) said they took on the children in a crisis situation with no notice at all, and nearly all of them (95%) were given no preparation classes or meetings to help them prepare for the child moving in.

Exactly 50% of respondents said they felt under pressure when making the decision to take care of the child, and this was mostly due to concern over who would look after them if they weren’t able to.

Some 84% of the respondents said they didn’t get the advice and information they needed when they moved in, and 74% still don’t get what they need now.

In the foreword to the report, chief executive Dr Lucy Peake, said that carers “had to try to find their way around a complicated system with very little information, advice or support.

“Yet the decisions they make at this time often determine all aspects of the ongoing emotional, practical and financial support they are entitled to receive.

“The lack of information, advice and support meant that most kinship carers found they had to make significant sacrifices to care for vulnerable children who could not live with their parents.

“They were left feeling penalised for stepping in to do the right thing to keep their families together.”

The lack of information, advice and support meant that most kinship carers found they had to make significant sacrifices to care for vulnerable children who could not live with their parents