Dame Rebecca Harris, Member of Parliament for Castle Point, has backed the leading charity Kinship’s call for the Government to improve the support available for kinship families. 

There are an estimated 197 children growing up in kinship care in Castle Point – where children are being raised by family relatives and friends because their parents are unable to care for them.

The annual survey of over 1,300 kinship carers found that kinship carers are four times as likely as other UK adults to have had a bill they can’t pay in the past month. 1 in 8 kinship carers are concerned they may have to stop caring for the children in their care within the next year if their situation doesn’t improve. 

Dame Rebecca met kinship carers in Westminster to listen to their experiences of taking on the care of a child that needs a loving home.

Commenting, Dame Rebecca said: “Kinship care is incredibly important. Family members and friends have stepped up to raise a child in stable and loving homes across Castle Point and I want to thank them for all they are doing. The previous Conservative Government launched the first ever National Kinship Care Strategy to better support ckinship arers and I will be asking Labour Ministers what plans they have to take forward this vital work.”

Kinship’s CEO, Dr Lucy Peake said: “We all understand the need for financially supporting children through foster care, ensuring their carers are provided with the means to buy their food, clothes and other necessities. But in every school playground there are also children who are living with grandparents, or an older sister, or a kind next-door neighbour, because their parents are unable to look after them. These children should not be plunged into poverty just because the person who stepped up to care for them already knew them.”

Leading charity Kinship supports more than 15,000 kinship carers across England and Wales each year, through free training sessions and workshops, one-to-one support, peer support groups, an expert advice line and more. For more information visit: kinship.org.uk