14th October 2024
Foundations, the national What Works Centre for Children and Families [1] today publishes the first national Practice Guide on kinship care, [2] designed to help local leaders in children’s services support kinship carers and keep children within their family networks. [3]
The Kinship Care Practice Guide brings together the most robust and up-to-date evidence about the services likely to be most effective for kinship carers. It is underpinned by the first large-scale review of its kind of the international evidence on programmes that best support kinship carers and their children. [4]
There are now more than 130,000 children living in kinship care with relatives or close family friends in England, more than twice the total number of children in foster care. [5] Kinship carers are more likely than other carers to be older, be socio-economically disadvantaged, and to be from some minoritised ethnic backgrounds. [6]
The Guide aims to close the gap between practice on the ground, and evidence about what works to improve outcomes for children and kinship families. The Guide’s key recommendations to local authority leaders include:
- Give kinship carers specialist support to navigate what is on offer for them. Our research shows that navigator-type programmes increase the chances of children staying within their family networks, or of reuniting them with their birth families
- Provide structured parenting support programmes for kinship carers. Our research finds that these can reduce behaviours by children that are challenging for carers and can destabilise kinship arrangements.
- Make Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) available for kinship carers where children display behaviours that challenge their carers. Our research shows that when grandparents received CBT, these behaviours reduced.
The Guide is published alongside separate research on how evidence is used by local authorities, commissioned from the Institute for Public Care (IPC) and published today by Foundations. [7] This research found that, despite an appetite among local authorities for using high quality evidence:
- Evidence-based practice is not consistently embedded in local authorities’ culture or leadership in children’s services
- Financial and workforce pressures are among the significant barriers to local authorities’ use of evidence in children’s services
- Local authorities want to be able to access the most up to date evidence about what works in services for children and families when they design and commission them
Dr Jo Casebourne, Chief Executive at Foundations, said:
“The Kinship Care Practice Guide signals a new era in evidence-led practice in kinship care. For the first time, local authorities now have access to most rigorous and up-to-date evidence of its kind about what works to support kinship carers, helping to keep thousands of children in their family networks and out of care”.
Cath McEvoy-Carr, Director of Children, Education and Skills in Newcastle, and Chair of the North East Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said:
“We must bridge the gap between the kinship care services that are commissioned locally, and what the evidence tells us works to produce better outcomes for kinship carers and the children they look after. As a Director of Children’s Services, I know that local authorities’ want to use the highest quality evidence when they develop and commission kinship care services. Foundations’ new Kinship Care Practice Guide marks a step change in the quality, rigour and accessibility of evidence available to us.”
Janet Daby, Minister for Children and Families said:
“Kinship carers are unsung heroes, stepping up for their loved ones and helping children to feel loved and accepted during a time of immense change and turmoil.
But we know that it’s not easy, which is why it’s so important that local authorities offer the knowledge and expertise to support kinship carers to help their family to thrive in their community.
The Kinship Care Practice Guide will play a key role in driving best practice in local authorities and ensuring kinship carers have clear routes to accessing the help they need.”
Fiona Richardson, Director of the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University said:
“Our research aimed to close the gap between practice on the ground and what the evidence tells us works to support kinship carers and the children they look after. Local authorities are eager to use evidence to shape commissioning and service design, but they face significant barriers – including financial and workforce constraints”.
ENDS
Contact Charlotte Kelsted, Senior Press Officer: 07773 647 480 / charlotte.kelsted@foundations.org.uk
Notes to editors
- Foundations is the national What Works Centre for Children & Families. We believe all children should have the foundational relationships they need to thrive in life. We research, generate, and translate evidence into practical solutions that shape better policy and practice and lead to more effective family support services. More information can be found here.
- Practice Guides have been developed by Foundations for the Department for Education and offer evidence-based recommendations on approaches to supporting local authorities in achieving the outcomes set out in the Children’s Social Care National Framework. Local authorities and leaders can share and use the Practice Guides along with a reflective tool that will accompany each guide. Guides are topical and more will be published as systematic reviews on each evidence base are completed. The Kinship Care Practice Guide can be accessed here.
- This relates to Outcome 2 of the Children’s Social Care National Framework: Children and young people are supported by their family network.
- The Kinship Care Practice Guide is based on a comprehensive systematic review of the evidence, conducted by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI). CEI is a global, social-purpose organisation that helps governments, funders and the social sector improve the lives of people facing adversity. The review included the findings from 21 studies about the impact of what works from around the world, and six qualitative studies on carer and practitioner experiences in the UK. The systematic review can be accessed here.
- Foundations commissioned the Institute of Public Care (IPC) to carry out research to increase understanding of how evidence is used in commissioning, service design, and the development of practice and programme models, to support children and families. The Institute of Public Care (IPC) provides applied research, evaluation, consultancy and training services to the care sector including local authorities, the NHS, government bodies, charities and the commercial sector. The project looked at a mixed sample of nine local authorities in England and a total of 73 professionals participated in interviews and focus groups. The final report can be accessed here.
