Kinship Carers
Across the UK there are thousands of children and young people being cared for by family members.
Recent estimates suggest that nearly half of kinship carers are looking after children because of the drug and alcohol problems of their parents.
It is for this reason Mentor has led a number of projects that have explored how to support kinship carers, and the children in their care.
Our most recent work has been in Scotland and has followed the Grandparents Project in England and a European Kinship Carers Project that Mentor led across 7 countries.
Scotland
Over the past three years we have been working with kinship carers in Scotland to understand their needs and to offer practical help.
Having worked with hundreds of carers in that period we created this guide for all kinship carers in Scotland, packed full of practical information that every kinship carer should have at their fingertips the guide has been developed with the active help of kinship carers themselves.
To find out more about the project, contact Heather admin-scotland@mentoruk.org
0131 334 8512
The Grandparents Project
The project was developed in collaboration with other leading charities in the field, Adfam and Grandparents Plus, and worked collaboratively with grandparents who were caring full-time for their grandchildren. The project, which was funded by the Department of Health, began in September 2004 and concluded in April 2007.
Undertaking the project helped us learn a huge amount about the position of kinship carers in England, and as a result Mentor produced the Mind the Gap resources for grandparents who are bringing up grandchildren and professionals who work with these grandparents.
These resources are available for download from the Publications page on this website.
European Union
The EU Kinship Carers Project was a three year project across 7 countries (Belgium, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). It ran from 2009 to 2011 and was led by Mentor.
The aim of the project was to improve the quality of prevention programmes targeting children and young people living with kinship carers; preventing these vulnerable children and young people from experiencing harm as a consequence of alcohol or drug use.
As a result of talking to kinship carers we found there were particular issues about entering formal care arrangements where there was uncertainty about the rights they have and what support they can expect. Another period where kinship carers feel isolated and unsupported is where the children in their care are engaging in risky behaviours.
As a result of our findings we have made the following recommendations:
- The core needs of carers and the children in their care – which may include financial, material, emotional and physical health issues – must be met by a systemic response by member states.
- Social care systems should be reassured that kinship care appears to have important protective factors for the children in these placements – fewer placement breakdowns, less mental health problems and fewer drug misuse problems.
- These benefits should not be at the cost of kinship carer’s well-being and so social care responses should look to build partnerships with carers, facilitate chances for them to support each other, and offer appropriate and timely skills development opportunities.
- The political profile of kinship care is uneven across the countries that took part in this project. However, the evidence we were able to uncover suggests that these placements are being increasingly examined by social care professionals. We recommend that national and local authorities give increased attention to meeting the needs of kinship carers.
- Agencies beyond social care (for example schools, family doctors, drug services, etc.) should consider the needs of the whole family including kinship carers when developing plans for parents with addictions.
- Resources, such as the smaller ones developed by this project, can have a positive impact on carer’s self-image, feelings of isolation, and skills.
- Developing resources that allow kinship carers to appreciate that they face many of the same issues as other parents may be beneficial.
The project was partly funded by the European Union in the framework of the Public Health Programme. The resources can be downloaded on our Publications page and include:
- A Glossary of Key Terms
- The Needs Assessment Report
- The Project Literature Review
- The Key Findings from the Project
- A Training Resource for professionals
- Scenarios to support the training