#KinshipCareWeek 2020: Celebrating the kinship community#KinshipCareWeek 2020: Celebrating the kinship community
#KinshipCareWeek runs from 5-11 October this year, and is a chance for every #ProudKinshipCarer and #ProudKinshipFamily to share their experiences, raise awareness, and celebrate what they do for their children.
What is kinship care?
Kinship care often begins with a family crisis, with a child whose parents are no longer able to care for them. When a loved one steps in – a grandparent, brother, sister, aunt, uncle or family friend – they become a kinship carer, bringing up the children they love.
Kinship families in the UK are raising over 200,000 children. Kinship care can be life-changing and challenging. Plans are pushed aside. Relationships, jobs and savings are sacrificed. Yet kinship carers do it without a thought for themselves because they put children first.
Kinship Care Week increases understanding and recognition of the role of kinship carers and the challenges they often face, but importantly, it’s also an opportunity to thank kinship carers for the incredible job they do raising children.
You can read more about the experiences of kinship and family carers in this State of the Nation 2019 report from Grandparents Plus and these reports from Family Rights Group.
We’re ready for Kinship Care Week!
This year, we’re celebrating Kinship Care Week online. Grandparents Plus – the kinshp care charity – are asking kinship families to share selfies, pictures of their families, and stories about what makes them a #ProudKinshipCarer or part of a #ProudKinshipFamily.
Kinship carers and people who work with kinship carers can follow the hashtag #KinshipCareWeek and share their stories and images online.
You can see what Grandparents Plus is doing to celebrate #KinshipCareWeek here.