Agenda item

To receive an update on the Council’s Local Kinship Offer.

Councillor Shirley Reynolds, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People, Education and Lifelong Learning, updated Cabinet on services provided to kinship carers (and the children they cared for) who resided in Telford and Wrekin and sought Cabinet’s endorsement to the publication of the Telford and Wrekin Local Offer for Kinship Carers.

Councillor Reynolds said that, in Telford and Wrekin, the Council believed that every child deserved to grow up in a safe, loving environment, ideally within their own family or close network.  She said that when children could not live with their parents, kinship parents, who may have been grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings or close family friends, could step-in to provide stable love and continuity.  She went on to say that these carers played a vital role in keeping children connected to their roots, culture and identity, which enabled them to maintain strong links with birth parents (but only where this was appropriate) as sadly for some children, contact with their birth family may not be suitable for a number of various reasons.

Councillor Reynolds said that it was an underlying principle of the Children Act 1989, that children should be enabled to live within their family unless this was not consistent with their welfare.  She said it was the Council’s belief that children should be in loving homes and one of the options was kinship care.  To support this, Councillor Reynolds said the Council was proud to publish its kinship local offer, a clear and accessible guide to the services and support available for kinship families across the borough.

Councillor Reynolds said this offer was more than a document, but the Council’s commitment to care, compassion and community.  She said that, nationally, there was a growing recognition of the importance of kinship care and new statutory guidance from the Department of Education in October 2024, defined kinship care broadly, which covered informal arrangements, private fostering and formal court orders.  She said that the guidance called on Councils to appoint a senior kinship lead, publish a comprehensive kinship local offer, provide support based on children’s needs (not just legal status) and focus on identifying family networks early.   These principles, she said, were imbedded in the Children’s Social Care National Framework, which placed children’s voices and family connections at the heart of care planning.

Councillor Reynolds said that children’s services within Telford and Wrekin had long championed family first approaches and the Council’s Family First Strategy already prioritised keeping children within their birth families, wherever it was safe and appropriate.  She said the Council had built on this foundation to co-produce its kinship local offer with carers, children and partner agencies.  She added that their lived experiences informed service design and ongoing co-production was supported by feedback mechanisms and the voice of the child apprentices.

Councillor Reynolds said the Council’s approach had been recognised nationally as best practice example for kinship care support.  She said the Council had listened to carers and had responded with training and peer support tailored to real life experiences and therapeutic services to help children and carers heal from trauma and accessible resources, which included leaflets and online guidance.

Councillor Reynolds said that the Council had created a parent worker role to bridge relationships between carers, birth parents and the Council and had expanded well-being support through family hubs, home start, citizens’ advice, digital support, peer support groups and emergency food support through the Interfaith Council.  She added that children in kinship care benefitted from virtual school support, breakfast clubs, youth services and pupil premium plus funding.  She went on to say that ongoing feedback and review mechanisms were in place to ensure the offer evolved with community needs and this offer would be reviewed after six months and again after a year.

Councillor Reynolds said that every elected member and employee of the Council, along with its partner agencies, had a duty to support children, young people and their families to the best of their ability.  She said everyone was responsible for providing the best possible care, safeguarding and outcomes for the children who were supported by these services and forming a shared vision as to how this should be achieved.

Councillor Reynolds said, looking ahead, this was a living offer, which would be updated regularly and shaped by those it served.  She said the Council was proud of the progress it had made, and it remained committed to working with kinship families to ensure every child in Telford and Wrekin had the opportunity to thrive in a loving and connected home.

In conclusion, Councillor Reynolds said she fully recommended the local offer for kinship carers and asked Cabinet to approve the publication of the offer and to acknowledge the national developments of the kinship care and how the Council had applied these locally.

Members raised a number of issues, which included:

• The provision of a loving home was vital for children to grow up in.

• Children who had suffered early life trauma required ongoing support, as did their families.

• The kinship local offer showed that, as a Council, it absolutely wanted what was best for children in its community.

RESOLVED – that:

(a)  The publication of the Telford and Wrekin Local Offer for Kinship Carers, be endorsed.

(b)  The content of the report, acknowledgement of the national developments in Kinship Care and how the Council had applied these locally, be noted.