Report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services)

The first ever National Kinship Care Strategy for England has been published, setting out the Government’s plans for kinship care, including new commitments and £20 million investment over 2024-5.  This report presents Manchester's response to this strategy and commitments to our Kinship Carers and Communities.

The Committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) which presented Manchester’s response to the first ever National Kinship Care Strategy for England and its commitments to Kinship Carers and Communities.

Key points and themes in the report included:

• The benefits of kinship care;
• What was known about Kinship Carers and Kinship Children, nationally and within Manchester; and
• Main issues and how the Council was responding to them.

Some of the key points and themes that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• To welcome the report, noting the benefits of children remaining within their family;
• What support was available for Kinship Carers in caring for children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND);
• Raising awareness of Kinship Care in Asian communities;
• The geographical spread of Kinship Carers;
• That housing was often an issue for family members who would be willing to become Kinship Carers and what was being done to address this; and
• Positive comments about an Eid party for refugees organised by the Council.

The Assistant Director (Provider Services) reported that, where a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) was being applied for, a plan was developed, in consultation with the proposed carer, and presented to the court.  She advised that carers could apply to the Adoption Support Fund for assistance with supporting additional needs.  She informed Members that the new Strategy would make it easier for families with SGOs to access support.  She reported that there were few breakdowns of SGO arrangements in Manchester and she encouraged Members that were aware of any specific cases they were concerned about to contact her outside of the meeting so that she could look into this.  She reported that her service was working in partnership with the Housing Service to identify solutions to housing issues and that they were seeking feedback from Kinship Carers and other recruited carers on the housing issues they faced.  In response to Members’ comments, she clarified that Kinship Carers did not have to be a relative of the child and could be, for example, family friends, teachers or community members; however, the majority of Kinship Carers were grandparents.

In response to a Member’s question, the Service Lead (Fostering) confirmed that the proportion of Looked After Children in Kinship Care arrangements had increased.  She reported that there were a number of Asian children living with Asian Kinship Carers and that a lot of work was taking place with Asian communities at present to raise awareness of fostering in general.  She advised that her team were always open to doing more of this and that they would include reference to Kinship Care to increase awareness of this.  She reported that the areas where there were the highest number of Kinship Carers correlated with the areas where more children were coming into care. 

The Executive Member for Early Years, Children and Young People informed the Committee of the work of MP Andrew Gwynne to secure improvements for Kinship Carers and she highlighted funding and housing issues.  She advised that many families were likely to have informal arrangements in place which were not known to Children’s Services and that awareness should be raised of formal arrangements.

The Acting Strategic Director (Children and Education Services) drew Members’ attention to the relationship between this work and the priority in the Children and Young People’s Plan “to make sure children and young people are kept safe and feel safe in their communities”.  He clarified the difference between the formal role of Kinship Carer and informal care arrangements. 

Decision

To note the report.