Family Rights Group is calling on the UK Government to improve recognition and support for kinship families, starting with new legislation.

We want to build a child welfare system which values and supports kinship care when children cannot remain at home. That starts with four transformative measures in law:

1. A statutory definition of kinship care. To improve recognition and understanding of kinship care in all its forms and establish the foundation for an effective support system. 
2. A duty on local authorities to develop and publish a local offer for kinship families, setting out the support they will provide.
3. A legal right for families to be offered a family group conference before social workers consider going to court to remove their children. To allow families to take a lead in finding safe solutions, including identifying potential kinship carers.
4. A right to paid employment leave, akin to adoption leave, to support carers to remain in work while giving us time to settle the children in.

We have made some good progress so far, including the national kinship care strategy published last year. But with a new Government, we need to persuade them to increase the ambition for kinship care. To do that, we need to get MPs on board.

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