New DfE minister visits kinship carers to hear first-hand experiences

Janet Daby, Labour MP for Lewisham East, and a former children’s social worker visited the head office of national charity Kinship, and heard emotional stories of children being raised by relatives.

Daby was appointed to DfE under new Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson last week. While her brief has not yet been confirmed, CYP Now understands that she is expected to assume responsibility for children's social care.

According to Kinship, there are currently more than 141,000 children being raised in kinship care in England and Wales, which is more than double the number in foster care.

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Kinship supports more than 10,000 carers, providing peer support groups, training sessions, an online hub and one-to-one guidance.

During the visit, kinship carers told Daby about the hardships they face and the stark contrast between the support available to kinship carers and foster carers. The lack of therapeutic support accessible to kinship children with early childhood trauma was also discussed.

Kinship’s chief executive, Lucy Peake, said: “The new government has a prodigious opportunity to go further and faster than any government before on delivering the support that these families desperately need. Investing in kinship care keeps children out of the care system, transforming children’s futures and saving the public purse huge sums of money. The fact that the Minister spent her first visit listening to these families’ experiences gives me great hope that the new government will give kinship care the transformational attention it needs.”

Daby, said: “Opportunity starts with a loving, secure home and kinship carers play a crucial role by being the constant support in young people’s otherwise turbulent lives.

“It was a pleasure to meet some amazing people who care for vulnerable children for my first official ministerial visit to hear about the challenges they face. They often don’t get the recognition or support they deserve.

“I will use my 15 years of frontline social care experience to be a champion for kinship carers and their children - making sure every one of them gets the opportunity they deserve. Today was a brilliant first step.”

The former government published its first kinship care strategy in December last year.

Backed by £20mn in funding, it laid out plans to pilot an uplift in financial allowances for some kinship carers and expand the role of virtual school heads to cover kinship care.

The newly elected Labour government has not yet confirmed if it will continue with this strategy.

However, in her first week as Education Secretary Phillipson highlighted children’s social care and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as key issues she plans to prioritise.