Kinship care policy

The Council also recognises that to provide safe and effective care, kinship carers may need additional specialist support. If care arrangements are in danger of breaking down or the child has additional needs, examples of advice and support include mediation and counselling services helping children maintain family time with parents, other relatives or important adults, therapeutic support; CYPS (Child and Young People's Services) support as required.

It is important to note that where parental responsibility is shared, then parents retain responsibility for financially supporting their children, typically carers can claim child benefits, child tax credits and additional working tax credits where appropriate. Carers should seek advice and support from Welfare Rights and the Money Advice Service to ensure they are claiming all the financial support they may be entitled to.

Finally, the Council acknowledges that carers who take on the care of a child may face unexpected financial struggles and that there may be exceptional circumstances when Kinship carers might need some additional financial support. Further details on when the Council might financially assist carers are set out later in this Policy, but it is important to note that there is not an automatic entitlement to financial help from the Council.

Family group conferences/family network meetings

A family group conference is an approach to planning and decision-making which builds on the strengths, skills and experience of the wider family as well as professionals. Gateshead Council uses family group conferences to help find solutions to difficulties a family might face in bringing up and caring for children. Examples of when a conference or family network meeting could be used include issues with family relationships, family time, children's behavioural difficulties and school attendance. Involvement will ultimately be determined by the family itself but may include those family members caring for the child and extended family, friends, neighbours and community members if they are considered to be part of a child's "family". This service can be accessed by contacting Children's Social Care.

Early Help

The majority of kinship arrangements work well and meet the needs of the child with the support of universal agencies such as health and education and housing services. It is important, however, that any difficulties are responded to early. Families may need advice and assistance during the early stages of considering whether to care for a relative or a friend's child, in order to weigh up the options and to consider what support services they might require. This advice can be obtained from a variety of sources, including the Kinship Care Team; Family Rights Group; Kinship. Contact details are provided at the end of this policy.

Partner agencies such as Health, Education and Housing have a key role to play in identifying and supporting children who are living with kinship carers. Services need to be aware of and sensitive to the needs of these children and their families and give priority to access services wherever possible.

To enable family and friends to offer appropriate care for children and young people who cannot live with their parents, access to a range of high quality universal and targeted services may be needed. Support services should not be withheld because a child living with a kinship carer is not a looked after child.

There are also a wide range of resources available to support children in the local area, including Children's centres, early year's provision, day care and out of school services, schools and colleges, health services, leisure facilities and youth support services. Kinship carers are encouraged to access all the universal services available both locally and nationally.

Housing

Gateshead Council is committed to ensuring that no child should become 'cared for' because of inadequate housing.

Housing services provided by the Council and its partners can make an important contribution to promoting kinship care arrangements by assisting carers to secure suitable housing. Housing Authorities and registered social landlords are engaged to ensure that their policies recognise the importance of the role performed by Kinship carers and that whenever possible, kinship carers living in social housing are given appropriate priority to move to more suitable accommodation if this will prevent the need for a child to become cared for. Gateshead Council's Lettings policy incorporates measures to ensure that preventative actions can be taken to avoid the need for a child to become "cared for".

Education

Gateshead council recognises the importance of continuity of education for children and young people. Advice and guidance on educational matters for children cared for by family and friends will be provided, by directing carers to the most appropriate helplines or services.

Young people aged 16 -19 in Kinship placements may be entitled to the Government funded bursary scheme.

Priority schools' admissions are available for those children who were in Local Authority care but who are now placed with their family under a Child Arrangements Order, Special Guardianship Order or Adoption Order.

Support groups

Kinship Carers may sometimes feel isolated when they take on this role, particularly when they are dealing with the complex needs of vulnerable children for which they had not planned. Getting together with others in a similar position can often be an invaluable source of support in itself. Support Groups are a valuable way of helping carers to access information about services which will help them to care for the children, as well as ensuring that they are treated with understanding and respect and receive emotional support. Therefore, Gateshead Council will continue to work with its partner agencies and the voluntary and faith sectors to find ways to encourage peer support and access to Support Groups. There are currently Support Groups for our Kinship carers that are delivered across the borough (see Kinship website for further details)

Family time

Family time between a child and their parents must be supported and promoted unless this is deemed not to be in the child's best interests. It is recognised that the management of family time can be challenging for Kinship carers.

The Council is committed to providing support to carers in managing family time arrangements which may include practical support. The Council expect most families to make their own family time arrangements, however the Council may provide assistance which would form part of the agreed care plan for the children. In the majority of cases this support would be transitional in assisting families in developing arrangements that they are able to sustain. However, after a Special Guardianship Order or Child Arrangement Order has been granted, assistance and support in this area can be actively sought by seeking advice and guidance from professionals who might already be working with the child and their kinship carer(s) or by contacting the Kinship Care team.

For children living with Kinship carers under a legal order that was granted within private law proceedings, or it is an informal family arrangement, the organisation of family time is a matter for the family to manage. However, advice and support can still be accessed from the Council. Where a child is Cared for and placed with a Kinship carer, the person caring for the child will be expected to comply with the family time plan that is agreed between the Local Authority, the parents and the multi-agency team involved with the child.

Gateshead kinship support offer

Gateshead Council offers a variety of support and training programmes for Kinship carers, including:

• Monthly support groups
• Monthly focus/training groups
• Activity/family days during every school holiday
• Attendance at 'All about Kinship' preparation training programme
• Become a member of Gateshead's fostering panel.
• Kinship Advisory board - Kinship carers to co-produce delivery of support services. • Kinship Kidz - young people living in Kinship families contribute to the team's service delivery.
• Monthly Kinship care newsletter advising Kinship families of events, activities and training opportunities.
• Foundation for Attachment training programme delivered by Trusting Hands therapeutic team.
• Individual support from Kinship Family advocates when required.
• Information sessions regarding Kinship care
• Support from Kinship Supervising social workers
• Access to online training via the Council's Learning Hub