Children with a sibling who is experiencing care: To what extent is a child’s likelihood of entering the ‘care system’ influenced by having a sibling who is already in it? Does this vary by maternal or paternal factors, individual child factors/demographics, age at which first child enters the ‘care system’, or birth spacing? Does this vary by caring environment of first child?
Background
Children in care should be supported to maintain loving, lifelong relationships with their brothers and sisters. Sibling bonds can often represent children’s most enduring sources of stability, identity and belonging, particularly during periods of disruption.
However, significant evidence gaps limit understanding of how well this ambition is currently realised. Basic descriptive data on the scale and nature of sibling separation is incomplete, including the reasons why children are unable to live with their siblings while experiencing the ‘care system’. While the Independent Care Review provided qualitative insights into the emotional impact of sibling separation, there remains limited evidence on its longer-term consequences for relationships, wellbeing, and wider life outcomes. Better evidence is needed to understand the extent and drivers behind preventable separation of siblings, which supports are most effective in sustaining these relationships.
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Related UKRI funded projects
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Sharing Our Stories: Experiences of Sibling Bereavement
There is no guarantee of a positive relationship with our siblings. Indeed, it is with brothers and sisters that we can have the fiercest of fall outs and most subtle of reconcilliations. Yet the relationship we share wi...
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Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it focuses on sibling bereavement, not on the influence of having a sibling in care.
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Why might this be relevant?
Fully relevant as it specifically addresses the extent and nature of kinship care households in the UK.
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From care, to adoption, to parenting: a two generation study of identity, risk and resilience in adoptive families
For 20 years UK policy has encouraged the adoption of children from care, and tens of thousands are now of an age where they could become a parent. This compulsory form of adoption is controversial at home and abroad and...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: University of East Anglia
Why might this be relevant?
Partially relevant as it focuses on adoptive families and identity issues, not directly on siblings in care.