Kinship Care

 

Kinship Care is a term used to describe situations where a Childs day to day care is taken over by a relative or friend, due to the birth parents being unable to care for the child for one reason or another.

The Scottish Government has contracted Citizens Advice Scotland to provide a service over 3 years to raise awareness of Kinship Care. We assist Kinship Carers with issues such as identifying their legal status and looking in to the financial implications and income maximisation as well as a range of other services which are available within their region. This initiative is part of Scottish Governments aim of putting in place an obligation on Local Authorities to provide financial assistance to kinship carers.

 This project covers both “looked after” (where there is an obligation from social work to be involved e.g. under a supervision order) and “non looked after” children (where the arrangements are less formal e.g. a grandparent taking over care of a grandchild).

 

The financial and emotional implications of this situation can be immense and the project is able to assist kinship carers in the following ways:

 

• By referring kinship carers to appropriate organisations who are able to provide emotional or practical support

 

• By identifying the legal status of the child and providing a comprehensive advice and assistance service in relation to the complex way in which allowances paid for kinship carers affect benefits, and looking into maximisation of kinship carer’s income and avoiding problems with overpayments of benefits. Whether this is income support, pension credit, tax credits, child benefit or housing benefit, to name but a few.

 

• Provide assistance with challenging decisions

 

Citizens Advice Scotland has put in place a dedicated Kinship Care Line and a network of 5 regional specialist support workers overseen by a National Coordinator in order to provide the best possible service for Kinship Carers.

 

 

This service can either be accessed by contacting the Kinship Care advice line on 08445762955 or by contacting a local Citizens Advice Bureau, details of local bureaux are available either in the local phone book or on www.cas.org.uk  or in the Highland region by contacting the Regional Specialist Support Officer on 0131 550 1097