What factors contribute to stability and sustained loving relationships in kinship placements over time? Where are there pressure points that can lead to breakdown or re-entry into care?
Background
Children’s outcomes are strongly shaped by the love, stability and support provided by their family and wider family networks or in their care placement. Our research interest in this area focuses on understanding the following:
-what enables effective and timely family help, in order to keep children and young people with their families wherever possible
-how safe, loving and stable relationships are sustained for children and young people known to children’s social care
-what contributes to children and young people entering into or moving within the care system.
Next steps
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Related UKRI funded projects
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Kinship care re-visited: Using Census 2011 Microdata to Examine and Map the Extent and Nature of Kinship Care Households in the UK
The research project will use microdata from the 2011 Census to provide nationally representative, reliable statistics and maps on the distribution and characteristics of kinship care households in the four countries of ...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Bristol
Why might this be relevant?
The project specifically focuses on kinship care households in the UK, addressing stability and support for children in these placements.
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Understanding What Matters: Developing effective participatory methods from the research into what matters to children living in kinship care.
Kinship care is the caring arrangement in the family constellation for children who cannot remain with birth parents. My PhD research was the first to solely focus on the views of children living in kinship care in Engla...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Sussex
Why might this be relevant?
The project emphasizes the importance of child voice in kinship care, aligning with the question's focus on stability and support in kinship placements.
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Care pathways and outcomes: The teenage years
Across the UK, when children enter care, they live in a range of different placements, such as foster care, kinship care (with relatives or friends), adoption or with their birth parents. However, adoptive placements are...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of Ulster
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on outcomes of children in care during their teenage years, which partially addresses the question's concern about stability and breakdown in kinship placements.