A new report – Growing Up in Kinship Care – has been published by CELCIS, the Centre for Excellence for Children’s Care and Protection, for SCADR, the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research.

The study looked at the data of over 19,000 children and young people who had lived in kinship care over a ten year period, during which the proportion of children and young people needing care and protection who were being cared for by family and friends almost doubled.

The researchers found that:

• Kinship carers are often supporting children with complex needs, and it is important that tailored support is in place for the children and their carers
• Educational outcomes remains an area where many children and families would benefit from additional support
• There is substantial regional variation in terms of how likely children are to live with kinship families
• There are many children in Scotland living with kinship families who are not ‘looked after’ by their local authority.

 

Read the report here

 

Download a pdf of the graphics here