Kinship Kids
It’s estimated there are around 180,000 kinship children in the UK.
Many of these children are overlooked in society and experience challenging situations on a daily basis: bullying, shame, stigma and emotional distress.
The RAISE Team at Merseyside Youth Association collaborated with Kinship Carers Liverpool to better understand the mental health needs of the kin kids in Liverpool. The RAISE team worked with Kinship Carers Liverpool and the kin kids who enjoyed the project to explore some of the key issues along with the resilience factors that play a role in their mental health and wellbeing.
The result was a powerful and emotive amination with a strong youth voice at its heart. Detailing the daily challenges of kin kids that are often overlooked.
The animation calls for all to recognise we all have a role to play, appropriate, timely interventions for all the family and a trauma-informed approach to Kinship Care. Read the RAISE Team report here.
Kin kids may also face Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and, as a result, be impacted by toxic stress, so we all need to play a part in building their resilience and supporting their mental health.
But with the right trauma-informed training for professionals and appropriate interventions in place, kinship children can live resilient, happy, fulfilled lives.
Developed and delivered by MYA’s RAISE Team, the Kinship Carers bite-size course is aimed at anyone caring for or looking after children and young people to give an insight into Kinship families.
Book your place now – visit the training calendar
The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Kinship Care
A cross-party group of MPs and Peers who share a common interest in championing kinship care and improving support for kinship carers.
The group was established in March 2021, and Family Rights Group serve as the group’s secretariat.
The APPG seeks to raise awareness of kinship care and to promote policy and practice which supports more children to live safely within their family and friends network when they cannot live with their parents. The group also seeks to improve support for kinship carers and to amplify the voices and experiences of children in kinship care and their families.
Reports
The Cross-Party Parliamentary Taskforce existed from 2018-2021 with the aim to raise awareness about and support for children in kinship care and to highlight the importance of this option for children who cannot live with their parents. It has been succeeded by the APPG on Kinship Care.