Less than a week on from the Government’s announcement that North East Lincolnshire Council will be one of seven local authorities chosen to be part of a 3-year pilot to offer kinship carers extra support, the Council has issued an update on progress.
Director of children’s services, Ann-Marie Matson, said that work had been underway “on a daily basis” since the Council found out it had been successful in bidding for the pilot scheme.
“Since we first found out that we had been chosen, Council officers have been working hard in the background to put processes in place to ensure that we can be ready to offer support to our kinship carers from day one.
“That work is still going on, but today we can offer kinship carers in North East Lincolnshire some reassurance that we are making good progress.
“Once our application process is finalised and ready to launch, we will be inviting all kinship carers who feel they may be eligible to apply for funding. This could be via our website, email, or in person.
“We are also encouraging kinship carers who aren’t known to us but think that they may qualify for support under the new pilot to get in touch with us so we can assess eligibility.
“In the meantime, to help answer some of the questions that many of our kinships carers might have, we’ve today published on our website a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions about the pilot scheme.”
The aim of the pilot scheme is to test whether an allowance and new support mechanisms for kinship carers would help to keep children out of the care system whilst remaining in loving homes with stable family networks.
Kinship carers are usually relatives, friends or someone with a prior connection, who raises a child when their parents are unable to do so. This is usually a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or a sibling.
It has been suggested that by growing up in kinship care arrangements rather than in local authority care, children tend to be more successful.
To find out more about the scheme, and to view the FAQs, visit www.nelincs.gov.uk/kinship.
Share this article