Blackburn with Darwen celebrates national Kinship Care Week

Kinship Care Week takes place from the 2^nd of October until the 8^th this year.

We are grateful for the many kinship carers in our area and the special role they play providing loving and stable homes for children who are unable to live with their parents.

Kinship carers are relatives or family friends who step up to raise a child whose parents are not able to care for them. Kinship carers can be grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, relatives or family friends.

Cllr Julie Gunn, Executive member for Children, Young People and Education, said:

We are really keen to highlight how important Kinship Care is and let carers know that we support them. Kinship families deserve to be celebrated for the enormous efforts and the many sacrifices they make, and Kinship Care week is a great opportunity to do that.

Blackburn with Darwen have their own Kinship support group, this month they will be meeting to celebrate and support our kinship carers on Wednesday 4th October, 6-7.30pm at Shadsworth Children’s Centre.

Across England and Wales, there are more than 162,000 children in kinship care.

According to the national charity Kinship, kinship carers often find it hard to find the advice, support and information they need.

This year, the theme for Kinship Care Week is ‘#DoOneThing’.

Kinship carers and those who work with them are encouraged to ‘do one thing’ to raise awareness of kinship care.

It’s been a pivotal year for kinship care, with the Government committing to the first ever, National Kinship Care Strategy, to be published by the end of 2023.

Find out more: Kinship Care Week 2023 | Kinship