Kinship Carer Experience
T has been a kinship carer since December 2024 for her niece and she has her own birth child who is 9. We asked her a few questions about her experience as a Kinship Carer.
How did you find the assessment process?
I found it straight forward, I was/am very lucky to have had great social workers for myself and my niece, everything was explained throughout with the option to ask any questions either face to face or if I thought about questions after, I was never left with doubts about the process and I would highly recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in my situation.
What support do you receive?
I was given a lot of support through my social worker and my nieces child social worker and we still are supported.
I have done a lot of the training that is offered to foster carers which helps fill in gaps that I didn’t even think about.
I have check ins via email and visits regularly.
Do you attend any of the support groups?
I attend the online support groups monthly with other people in the same situation.
What’s the best thing about being a Kinship carer?
I find the best part about being a kinship carer is my niece gets to know all about her family background and she has just as many opportunities as my birth daughter does, seeing my daughter getting to be a 'big sister' to her little cousin is amazing.
What’s the hardest thing about being a Kinship carer?
The hardest thing I have found about being a kinship carer is boundaries, unfortunately my journey didn't start off well due to my sister not agreeing with her daughter being taken away from her so it was quite a volatile relationship. We have worked hard on our relationship for my niece so I'm now at the situation where we are going forward with an SGO and I currently supervise the family time.
Is there anything else you want to add about being a Staffordshire Kinship carer?
I couldn't have become a kinship carer without the support of social services and close family friends, the process was a lot easier than what I expected it to be when I was first approached, it can feel overwhelming to start with but I would definitely do it again if I was approached.
