Munira has launched the campaign for her Kinship Care Bill, which she will introduce in Parliament next week.
The term “kinship care” isn’t one most people hear every day, but it describes an arrangement many families come to when a child’s parents can no longer look after them.
Kinship carers are friends and family members – be that grandparents, aunts, uncles, adult siblings or family friends – who step up for a child in crisis and provide them with a loving home, keeping them out of the care system.
These friends and family members make huge personal sacrifices, often taking on vulnerable children at very short notice and with little time to prepare emotionally or financially. But they are all too often overlooked. Compared to foster carers and adoptive parents, many kinship carers get little government support.
Munira is calling on the Government to step up to support these friends and relatives who step up for a child in crisis. If passed into law, her Kinship Care Bill would level up support for kinship carers by introducing:
- weekly allowances for kinship carers, just as foster carers get;
- proper parental leave when they first welcome in a child;
- extra funding to ensure that children in kinship care thrive in school.
How to get involved
You can show your support for the Bill by spreading the word on social media using #StepUpForKinshipCarers.
Please also e-mail your MP and ask them to attend the debate on Tuesday, 5 July and support the Bill in Parliament. A template letter to use when contacting your MP can be found here.