According to a report published by The Family Rights Group entitled “Doing the right thing: A report on the experiences of kinship cares”, 49% of kinship carers have to give up work permanently in order to be able to care for the kin child and 18% had to leave work temporarily.
The report also found that 22% of carers’ had 3 or more children aged 18 or under in their household. This means that the Government’s proposed limit on child tax credits will particularly affect kinship carers.
In addition to this, 80% of kinship carers confessed to not knowing enough about the legal options available when they took on the child.
This report is based on information from calls by kinship carers to Family Rights Group Advice Service made from 2014/15 and also an online survey of 579 carers conducted by Family Rights Group (FRG) in 2015.
In giving a range of recommendations, the FRG has expressed the need for the government to fund free legal advice and information services to these carers.
To read the full report please visit Family Rights Group website or download the Report on kinship carers survey in PDF file format.
