It’s Kinship Care Week (6-12 October), As valued supporters of our work we know you will want to join forces with us during this national week of awareness, recognition, and celebration of kinship families.
Kinship carers provide over 141,000 children in England and Wales with loving and stable homes. It’s a time to shine a light on these dedicated and compassionate people: the grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and family friends who keep children connected to their family, roots and community.
As well as being a celebration of all kinship families, Kinship Care Week is an opportunity to raise awareness of their families’ unique needs. Kinship carers have to overcome complex systems with limited support, all while ensuring their child feels safe and loved.
The week is jam-packed with local events across England and Wales, many of them driven by our Peer Support network. Peer Support makes such a difference to people’s lives, as described by Harriet* after attending her first group meeting:
I felt like I’d known everybody for years already. This was because I felt there was so much compassion within the group. I can’t quite explain in words how impactful the group was to me – it was just phenomenal. … Without Kinship, I don’t know where I’d be.
If you would like to help raise awareness this week, we’ve created this Digital Toolkit to make it quick and easy to get involved. You could like and share our social media posts, put a poster on the office noticeboard or send out an email to your contacts.
Please join us in marking this special week and read on for more news, hot off the press, from Kinship.
For nearly a decade, Kinship’s annual national survey has been amplifying the voices of kinship carers across England and Wales.
This year, nearly 2,000 carers have shared their stories with us. It’s our biggest response yet, and we’re so proud to be able to reflect the experiences of kinship families right across the country.
As we start Kinship Care Week 2025, we are pleased to share our 2025 annual survey report. Handle with Care, tells us two important things:
- Many kinship families are still struggling, especially financially, and are being forced to make heartbreaking sacrifices to keep their families together.
- Kinship’s work is making a difference – kinship carers are feeling less isolated, less lonely, and more hopeful, even during tough times.
Joan*, kinship carer to her grandson told us:
As it is, I go without so that he can eat. For me, it’s often a case of ‘do I eat, or do I feed him and pay the bills?’ I have had to give up my home to find somewhere even smaller. I have been in debt.
We don’t put the heating on – we just come home and get under the duvets. I love him so much, he’s so funny and smart, and I would do anything for him, but love doesn’t pay the bills.
Kinship Care Week is an opportunity for us to recognise the value of the sacrifices made, without which thousands more children would move into the statutory care system. It is also a time to step up our campaigning activity as we demand long-awaited change for kinship carers.
Yesterday, we were proud to launch our BBC Radio 4 Appeal presented by our Kinship Ambassador, Emmerdale actor Jay Kontzle, who grew up in kinship care.
Timed to take place during Kinship Care week, the appeal gives us the opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges of kinship care and attract donations to fund our support services.
Jay shares the story of Annie and Steve, a young couple who had just 24 hours to decide whether to take in their two-year-old nephew, George, or risk him going into care. Overwhelmed and unsupported, they were at breaking point, until they found Kinship. With our help, they received expert advice, emotional support, and access to a community of others who truly understood. Today, George is thriving in their care.
Kinship’s appeal will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 9 October at 15.27pm. You can listen now to Annie and Steve’s story and donate online or by cheque to help other kinship families like them. Please help us by sharing this link as widely as possible.
Kinship’s mission is to change lives and change the system.
We are the trusted voice for an ever-growing community of kinship carers, currently nearly 13,000. We provide them with specialist advice, one-to-one support, training and peer support. We undertake research and co-create our programmes with kinship families to make sure they are relevant and meet people’s needs. We’re also tirelessly campaigning with and for kinship families to receive the recognition and support they deserve.
There are many more kinship families who need our support and with your help we are growing and improving our work to reach more of the 141,000 kinship carers across England and Wales.
On behalf of our community and all at Kinship, thank you for your support. Together we are making the difference kinship families urgently need.
* names have been changed