Kinship Care Week (first week in October) is a national week to raise awareness, understanding, and recognition of the role of kinship carers. We want all our kinship carers in Denbighshire to know that we appreciate everything they do.
Kinship Care in Denbighshire
We have nearly 30 children in Denbighshire who reside in kinship care. Kinship care week shines a light on the vital role of kinship carers and the quality of care they provide to children in Wales. Kinship carers include grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and family friends. Each one of them are highly regarded as individuals who have stepped up in extraordinary ways to keep children within their family and with that supporting their sense of identity and belonging.
It’s estimated that around half of kinship carers are grandparents. Still, many other relatives, including older siblings, aunts, uncles, as well as family friends and neighbours, can also be kinship carers.
We Value every Kinship carer
Kinship care is a valued and important part of fostering. We are extremely grateful to everyone who makes a long-term commitment to look after children in Denbighshire.
#KinshipCareWeek puts kinship carers in the spotlight. But it’s not just about one week. We want kinship carers to be recognised, valued, and supported all the time.
Where possible, we try to keep children with their families or friends. If we can’t do this – we place children with our mainstream foster carers. We recognise that most children feel secure, settled and safe and experience close and positive relationships with their kinship carers.
”Kinship carers are some of the most selfless people, and they deserve to be recognised and praised for the hard work and commitment they provide to some of our most vulnerable children”
Children placed with Connected carers
There are positive research findings for children in the care system who are being raised by family and friends. But we recognise the additional stressors that can be placed on kinship carers and the often complex family dynamics. This is one of the reasons we do our best to support our kinship carers as much as we can, and want to thank them for the incredible work they do.
These families are central to successful fostering in our area, and we have developed teams of social workers, and learning and development opportunities to support our carers. There is additional support for all forms of kinship carer, whether they’re approved kinship carers, informal carers or carers of children under different orders, such as a special guardianship order.
As with mainstream foster care, kinship placements can come to an end if the children return to their parents or reach adulthood. Having family members or friends looking after children in Denbighshire can keep children in a stable environment with access to their friends and family. We know this can make difficult situations easier. Sometimes kinship carers have continued their fostering journey with us after their family placements have ended by going on to be assessed and become mainstream carers.
We would like to thank all of our amazing kinship carers in Denbighshire and hope we can do our bit to raise awareness of the invaluable work that these families do.
Here’s what our Supervising Social Worker, Lauren, says about Kinship Care-
”Kinship care is so important for children in the care system, yet so many people have never heard of it. It offers children the opportunity to remain with their family, friends or others who are connected to them when they are unable to live with their parents; preventing them from being placed with foster carers who are unfamiliar to the child”
”Being taken into care is such a life-changing experience for children and young people and can be so daunting, but knowing they can go to a family member or friend offers them a sense of reassurance and normality; it takes away a huge element of the fear they hold when they know they can’t stay with their parents. As a social worker, I am so passionate about keeping children with family, friends or connected people wherever possible, as it hugely benefits their sense of identity and it is heart-warming to see how far they can develop with good quality care, love and commitment. Kinship carers are some of the most selfless people, and they deserve to be recognised and praised for the hard work and commitment they provide to some of our most vulnerable children. Their input really is life-changing, and through raising awareness, I hope they can inspire others to put themselves forward for children they are connected to if they ever find themselves in this situation”
The Kinship Care Organisation support Kinship carers all over the United Kingdom https://kinship.org.uk/
