Pause is proud to be a member of the Kinship Care Alliance(KCA), a group of organisations that campaigns for better recognition and support for families involved in kinship care.
KCA members have a shared belief that when children and young people cannot remain home with their birth parents, they are best placed with family and friends (where it is in the child’s best interests and safe to do so). We believe that all kinship families – including birth parents – should receive the right support and help, so that children in kinship care are able to thrive in safe, loving homes within their family network.
At Pause, we know that nearly half of the children of the women we work with are in kinship care arrangements, and across the UK, kinship carers raise more than 180,000 children. From our extensive work with women who have children taken into care, we recognise the value of kinship care, however we also understand its challenges – we know that many of kinship families do not receive adequate support, which can lead to significant practical, financial and emotional challenges in their lives, including navigating what can be complex family relationships. We believe that more needs to be done to recognise the complexity of family relationships and to provide the right support, so that children are raised in safe, loving homes.
Pause is pleased to support the KCA’s seven priorities for the next UK government to recognise the value of kinship care and the unique challenges which kinship families face, and to deliver the radical reform kinship families desperately need.
