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Across Scotland there are many children who may live with family and friends at some point during their childhoods and kinship care is a crucial part of Scotland's care system.

This Inform Kinship briefing provides a comprehensive overview of the latest research, policy, legal and practice issues for kinship care across Scotland. It is aimed at everyone with an interest in supporting children in kinship care and will be of particular relevance to statutory social workers, legal officers, welfare rights officers, and kinship advocacy groups.

The briefing highlights the international evidence demonstrating the strong value of kinship care for children feeling loved, safe and secure with family. It examines the policy landscape in Scotland, the legal framework, how carers are assessed, and care planning for children.

It briefing concludes that:

• there has been less focus on the care planning for children in formal kinship care and assessment processes
• children and young people, along with their kinship carers, are often very positive about their lived experience of kinship care.
• there remains challenges in the equitable level of support for kinship families across Scotland.
• there needs to be greater recognition of the unique value of kinship care and the support services needed to ensure that all children can flourish