Global Report

Family for Every Child Kinship Care Guideline - Lessons Learnt from Around the World

Kinship care has multiple benefits for children and kinship care is often in the best interests of children outside of parental care

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Focus of this Report

We are delighted to publish our Kinship Care Guide. With a forward by Ann Skelton, Chair of the UNCRC, this is the first ever global, practitioner-informed guidance on how to support kinship care. The guidance is aimed at policymakers and programme managers working to improve the care of children. Children who cannot be looked after by their parents often live with relatives or friends of the family. This care is known as kinship care. Kinship care is acknowledged as the first form of care that should be explored for children outside of parental care.It is widely used across the world. However, it is poorly supported in many countries.This guidance explains why supporting kinship care is so important and provides principles of good practice and lessons learnt from across the world. We will use this guidance to campaign for better support for and better access to kinship care across the world. The full set of guidance includes over 40 examples of promising practice from across the world.

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Global Report Date:

January 25, 2024

Region:

Global

Topics:

Kinship Care

Family for Every Child Kinship Care Guideline - Lessons Learnt from Around the World

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FINAL Summary-Kinship Care Guideline_web

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Summary Document for this Report

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Research Objectives:

Kinship care can be defined as: “Family-based care within the child’s extended family or with close friends of the family known to the child, whether formal or informal in nature.”

Explore the different forms does kinship care take? Why are children placed into kinship care? Rates of entry into kinship care are affected by a range of interrelated factors

Why support kinship care? Kinship care has multiple benefits for children and kinship care is often in the best interests of children outside of parental care

Supporting kinship care prevents family separation Both the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children highlight the value of children growing up within families, rather than with parents. In doing so, this guidance is recognising that the responsibility of raising a child does not just lie with parents, and that the broader family also play a key role. Thus, kinship care can be both a response to separation from parents, and also prevent family separation. The state has a role to play in supporting both parents and kinship carers to fulfil their responsibilities.

Kinship care families need assistance and are not currently being supported Evidence presented in the remainder of this guidance shows how kinship care families across the world are struggling. Many have complex needs linked to low incomes, emotional distress, disability, long-term health problems, and restricted access to services.

Policies, strategies, and guidance on kinship care Kinship care needs to be recognised in relevant policies, strategies and guidance, including: • laws, policies, and national or sub-national strategies on children’s care, • guidance for the social service workforce, including case management guidance, and • policies, strategies, and guidance on issues that may affect the well-being of kinship care families, such as social protection/financial supports, education, justice, health care, identity and birth registration, parenting, early childhood development, disabilities, and migration and immigration.