In a guest blog, Community member Clare Walsh discusses her experiences as a kinship carer – and how we can improve the current support system for children and carers alike.
Pictured: Clare Walsh (left) with Janet Daby MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Children and Families)
Conundrum: Care vs Productivity. Answer: It can be both.
My name is Clare Walsh, and I am a kinship carer to two children. Kinship carers step in to raise the children of family and friends, in my case my niece and nephew. I stood as Labour candidate for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton in the General Election because I believe the Labour Party knows that even the hardest working families need help. I was delighted that just a week after the election, Children’s Minister Janet Daby met with kinship carers. With legislation on children’s wellbeing and employment rights set out in the King’s Speech, Labour has an opportunity to help kinship families like mine, and many more.
One Wednesday my family was called together by social services and abruptly told ‘Take these children or they’re going into care’. My partner and I agreed they could temporarily come to us; the situation became permanent two days later. There is no legal entitlement to employment leave in these circumstances, as there is for new parents and adopters. We both had full time jobs we loved. I was working for the International Child Abduction and Contact unit at the Office of the Official Solicitor. At the time many government organisations were prevented from hiring permanent staff, consequently I was on a temporary contract. My partner had a better paid, permanent role and so we made the hard choice that I would give up work.
Leaving work gave me the time I needed to settle the children into school and nursery and attend all the appointments with social workers and lawyers that we suddenly faced. I struggled with my self-worth. I had always worked, so giving it up was incredibly demoralising. Paid parental leave would have made an enormous difference to the stability and wellbeing of our family. I could have gone back to work knowing my children were safe and settled. It’s why I’m campaigning with charities like Family Rights Group for a right to paid kinship leave.
Supporting children to live with family costs the state less than in stranger foster care or children’s homes. With record numbers of children in a care system bursting at the seams, more could be living safely with kinship carers. Compared to children in stranger care, children in kinship care are on average physically and mentally healthier, are more likely to be academically successful, more likely to hold down a job and less likely to enter the criminal justice system. Investment in kinship care makes sense for children, families and the public purse.
Kinship care arrangements come about because of tragedy and trauma. Despite our best care, children living away from their birth parents often need professional help to overcome that trauma. Many children in kinship care are less likely to receive the therapeutic support they need compared with children looked after in the care system. The commitment in the King’s Speech to improve mental health provision for young people, putting mental health on a par with physical health, is very welcome. I was one of the lucky ones who was able to secure therapeutic assessments for my children, but the support recommended did not exist due to a lack of availability. Like so many public services, this area has been underfunded. Community recognises this and is pushing for this to be addressed through their ‘Early Years Charter’. A Labour government needs to recognise the value of early years staff and the specialised work that they do. All kinship children should be able to access the therapeutic support they need.
These challenges filter through to children’s experiences in school too. Community’s ‘The Future of Education’ campaign recognises the need to support education staff through better pay, conditions and career development. This will improve the educational offering for all children. Over half of kinship children have additional educational needs or disabilities, yet the support available often depends on whether the child has been looked-after in the care system. For many, accessing an Educational Health and Care (EHCP) plan is next to impossible. Our children have to be seriously self-harming or disrupting the class before the conversation even starts. The Labour Party has said that spotting children who need help sooner will be key to their early education changes.
Kinship carers stepping in at times of crisis often means that children avoid the care system, to their detriment when it comes to accessing support. All children in kinship care should receive entitlements like Pupil Premium Plus and teacher development should include understanding of kinship care so that support can better reach our children. Too many children are falling through the cracks.
If you would like to learn more about kinship care, and are at Labour Party conference, please come along to our fringe event by Family Rights Group.
‘For the love of Gran’ – Sunday 22 September at 1pm in the Youth Zone. Meet myself, Labour MPs Josh MacAlister and Melanie Onn, alongside FRG’s Chief Executive Cathy Ashley and young people from Kinship Carers Liverpool.
This Labour government has the power to improve the lives of over 180,000 children, their carers, and wider family. It would save the government money too. Let’s make this Labour government the most family friendly ever.
Clare Walsh, kinship carer, 2024 parliamentary candidate and self-employed member of Community Union.
If you are involved with children’s services and need independent, specialist advice, Family Rights Group’s free advice service can help: https://frg.org.uk/get-help-and-advice/
If you are a member of Community and need advice or support, please contact our Service Centre at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.
© Community Trade Union 2024