Kinship carers urged to check Scottish Child Payment eligibility
Kinship carers are being urged to check if they could be entitled to the Scottish Child Payment, after eligibility was expanded to include more of them last year.
The call comes at the start of Scottish Kinship Care Week, which celebrates the role of extended family or friends who care for children when they cannot remain with their birth parents.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met with a group of kinship carers yesterday at an annual big breakfast hosted by the Big Hearts Community Trust at Tynecastle Park to thank them and highlight the extra support available via the Scottish Child Payment and other Scottish social security benefits.
Big Hearts’ Kinship Care programme was launched in 2015 and offers a range of support for young people and their carers, including after school clubs, coffee mornings, and wellbeing advice.
The First Minister said: “We owe kinship carers an enormous debt of gratitude for the role they play in providing loving and secure homes for children and young people, and it’s vital they receive every penny of support they’re entitled to.
“In line with our commitment to tackling child poverty, we increased the Scottish Child Payment to £25 a week per eligible child last year, and expanded the eligibility criteria to include more kinship carers.
“We want to ensure everyone gets the financial support they are entitled to, so I’d encourage carers to check whether they’re entitled to receive the Scottish Child Payment and any other Scottish Government benefits.
“In addition to the fantastic support provided by charities like Big Hearts, there are a range of events for kinship carers taking place across the country this week, and free advice and guidance is also available from the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland website.”
Craig Wilson, Big Hearts’ General Manager said: “It was fantastic to welcome Scotland’s First Minister to Tynecastle Park for the start of Scottish Kinship Care Week.
“We are so proud to work with so many amazing kinship care families and for many years we’ve strived to raise the profile of kinship carers and highlight the support they can and should receive.
“There’s no doubt that today adds to that and we want kinship carers to know there is always a warm and welcoming place for them here at Big Hearts.”
A new online booklet is launched today to help people across Scotland who care for the child of a relative, or friend, after the vast majority (88%) of kinship carers said they were not given enough information about how to access vital financial and emotional support.
What Now?produced by the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS), includes a guide to the kinship assessment system, as well as contact details of organisations and support groups who can offer help and advice to carers.
Since 2010, there has been a significant increase across Scotland in the number of children being cared for by family member or friend because they are unable to live with their birth parents, an arrangement known as kinship care.
The latest Scottish Government statistics show there were 4,456 children formally looked after in kinship care in 2019-20, (31% of the looked after children population), compared to 3,172 children in 2009-2010 (20% of the looked after children population). **
KCASS, which is operated by Adoption UK Scotland and Adoption and Fostering Alliance Scotland in collaboration with the Child Poverty Action Group, is urging kinship carers and social workers to access What Now? online, or request a hard copy of the booklet, launched to mark the start of this year’s Kinship Care Week.
Susan Hunter, KCASS project coordinator, said: “Since its inception our KCASS Advisory Group, all of whom are kinship carers, has highlighted the lack of suitable information available to them, particularly at the start of their kinship journey.
“All too often kinship carers get in touch with our helpline asking for assistance; they have taken on the care of children at short notice with no understanding of what this will entail for them and their family.
“Kinship carers describe feeling overwhelmed and very much alone. Where they have been provided with information, they have found this to be difficult to comprehend with terms they are not familiar with, leaving them confused and uninformed.”
Children’s Minister Clare Haughey said: “Kinship Care Week provides an opportunity to celebrate and pay tribute to the important role that kinship carers play in providing loving, secure, stable, and nurturing homes for children and young people who can no longer live with their parents.
“All kinship carers deserve to get the support they need, and I welcome publication of the What Now? booklet, which will help kinship carers access important information. I would like to thank members of the KCASS Advisory Group who ensured the voices of those with care experience were heard when the booklet was developed.”
Fiona Aitken, director, Adoption UK Scotland, said: “We’re proud to be facilitating Kinship Care Week as an opportunity for us to raise the profile of the carers who tirelessly provide loving homes for their children.
“The week allows us to provide valuable opportunities for children in kinship families to take part in fun activities, workshops and group sessions for carers and learning and networking events for practitioners, encouraging all Scottish kinship care families, and those who support them, to take part.”
Robin Duncan, Adoption and Fostering Alliance Scotland director, said: “Kinship Care Week is a great opportunity to increase awareness of kinship care and give recognition to the carers for the remarkable, and often unsung, contribution they make. It also gives us the chance to spread the word about the new What Now? booklet so that this can be as widely available as possible helping to improve the availability and consistency of support to people when they take on the care of a child.”
This year’s Kinship Care Week takes place from 14th -18th March and features a range of webinars and discussion groups for carers, social workers, and childcare professionals. A full programme of events can be found at https://kinship.scot/kinship-care-week-2022/
Kinship carers or professionals can order a hard copy of What Now? by contacting KCASS at advice@kinshipscot.org, or by calling 0808 800 0006.
Michelle became a kinship carer to her two granddaughters five years ago. She says she and her husband were not given any advice or guidance at the time about kinship care or what was expected of them as carers.
She said: “When I first became a kinship carer I got a call out of the blue asking me to look after my granddaughters for a few weeks whilst social work got things sorted out at home. Five years later they are still with us.
“The day they arrived I heard the words kinship carer, something I had never heard of before and knew nothing about. My husband, daughter and I looked like rabbits caught in headlights with two little children. We were given no help, advice, or guidance as to what to do or what was expected of us, we felt so very alone and angry. We had no contact numbers and did not even receive a phone call. If I had been given this booklet then it would have made things a little easier. Just to know that we were not alone and that help was out there, it would have been an absolute lifeline.
“I suggested developing a booklet like this at the KCASS Advisory Group which I am a part of. I didn’t want anyone else to go through the horrible, sometimes debilitating situation I was left in. This booklet would have helped so very much.
“That is why I am so very passionate and determined that it should be given to all kinship carers when they take on the care of a child, just so they know that they are not alone and have all the information they will need.”
Scotland’s kinship carers are often overlooked and undervalued by society despite making huge sacrifices to provide stable homes for vulnerable young people, according to the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS).
Kinship Care Week (15-21 March) aims to provide these unsung, and sometimes invisible, heroes with the recognition they deserve and to encourage support agencies to work together to provide families with timely and appropriate support.
Research* suggests the vast majority of kinship carers experience some form of hardship after taking over the care of a child of a family member or close friend. Many have to reduce their working hours, or give up work altogether, and they often find themselves in need of emergency financial and emotional support.
Recent Scottish Government statistics revealed there were 4,175 children living in kinship care in Scotland in 2019. However, it is estimated the true number could be as high as 11,000 when taking into account informal and private arrangements. Many of these families are not known to their local authority, meaning thousands of kinship carers could be missing out on vital support.
KCASS helps families in a range of ways, offering practical support and advice to families about finances, housing, education, dealing with trauma, mental health, legal matters, and more. Between September 2020 and February 2021, KCASS responded to 693 calls to its free helpline – more than 100 every month.
Susan Hunter, KCASS Project Coordinator, said: “It is our service’s role, in addition to providing kinship carers with financial, practical and emotional advice, to ensure their voices are heard when decisions are made which affect their lives, when legislation is introduced which impacts on their children’s futures, and when consultations are undertaken which explore the difficulties and struggles experienced by kinship families.”
Kinship Care Week features a range of webinars, training sessions and activities for carers, children and professionals. This year is the first time that KCASS has hosted the week since the service was taken over by Adoption UK in Scotland and the Adoption and Fostering Alliance (AFA) Scotland in September 2020, after previously being provided by Citizens Advice Scotland.
Fiona Aitken, Adoption UK’s Director in Scotland, said: “Kinship Care Week is an opportunity to highlight the amazing job that kinship carers do, along with the challenges that they face.
“We’re proud to work together with our partners to support kinship carers and their families. We hope this week puts kinship care families in the spotlight that they deserve.”
KCASS is funded by the Scottish Government and is committed to keeping The Promise, which pledges that children living in kinship care must receive the support they need to thrive.
Children’s Minister Maree Todd, who is taking part in an online Q&A session as part of the week, said: “Kinship Care Week is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the vital role kinship carers play in providing secure, stable and nurturing homes for children and young people who can no longer live with their parents.
“I’d like to thank all the carers, professionals and partner charities who have supported children and young people in kinship care during this difficult year.
“We are determined to improve the life chances of young people in kinship care through implementing the commitments made in The Promise, so they enjoy safe, fulfilling and loving childhoods. As part of that, the Scottish Government will work with partners, including KCASS, through the Kinship Care Collaborative to better support carers, children and professionals working with kinship families.”
Kinship carers experiencing difficulties or in need of advice are urged to call the free KCASS helpline on 0808 800 0006 from 10am – 2.30pm, Monday to Friday.
