West Dunbartonshire woman calls on next First Minister to support Kinship carers

There are calls for the next First Minister to focus on improving support for kinship carers across Scotland.

Kinship care is when a child is looked after by a friend or relative if the parents are unable.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio on Kinship Care Week, Micheleine Kane who looks after her grandson said: "We can't feed and clothe them on love. 

"We love them, absolutely, but we have to make a lot of sacrifices. 

"If a kid goes into foster care, those parents get the money straight away, but for kinship carers, there are assessments and long waits for funding. 

"There's a cost of living crisis and we can't afford to wait 16 weeks to feed extra mouths."

Postcode lottery

Micheleine added that kinship carers face a postcode lottery when it comes to financial support. 

"She's calling for legislation which would see a national allowance for all carers, instead the current guidance in place. 

"You've got 32 local authorities across Scotland which are doing different things which is why a national allowance is so badly needed. 

"These things matter and the guidance doesn't work - but it's not just for us, it's for all carers. 

"There needs to be legislation which says 'you have to do this' because these kids need to be protected.

"We fought in court for parity for 2015 and that's when we got kinship kids on par with foster kids in terms of the allowance. 

"But there is still a lot of discrimination in kinship care, like respite for example. 

"Things that foster carers get, but we don't because we're family."

Valued commitment

Children and Young People Minister Clare Haughey said: “We value the commitment that foster and kinship carers make to providing loving and caring homes for some of our most vulnerable children and young people.

“We have established the Kinship Care Collaborative to deliver both national and local improvements to better support kinship carers, children and professionals working with kinship families.

“The Scottish Government is also providing £324,000 in funding in 2022-23 to Kinship Advice Service for Scotland to deliver a wide range of support, advice and information services to kinship care families.

“We are continuing to work constructively with COSLA to set a Scottish Recommended Allowance for foster and kinship allowances as soon as possible.”

'Debt of gratitude'

Yesterday, outgoing First Minister Nicola Sturgeon met with a group of kinship carers on Monday at an annual big breakfast hosted by the Big Hearts Community Trust at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh.

She said: "We owe kinship carers an enormous debt of gratitude for the role they play in providing loving and secure homes for children and young people, and it's vital they receive every penny of support they're entitled.

"In line with our commitment to tackling child poverty, we increased the Scottish Child Payment to £25 a week per eligible child last year, and expanded the eligibility criteria to include more kinship carers.

"We want to ensure everyone gets the financial support they are entitled to, so I'd encourage carers to check whether they're entitled to receive the Scottish Child Payment and any other Scottish Government benefits.

"In addition to the fantastic support provided by charities like Big Hearts, there are a range of events for kinship carers taking place across the country this week, and free advice and guidance is also available from the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland website."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.