If you needed to care for a family member or friend’s child because they could no longer do so, would you? Knowing that if you said no, they would go into care?
Most of us would say yes without hesitation, without considering the practicalities, the financial implications, or the emotional toll on everyone involved.
That’s a decision that thousands of kinship carers have to make, often at short notice with very little time to decide. Yet despite stepping up and providing an invaluable role, many are left with next to no support or access to mental health services for the children they care for.
At Kinship, we’ve been warning of the toll this is having on families for a decade, yet in 2026, kinship children are still often invisible in the system, and support for their mental health is, in fact, declining.
While there have been positive reforms for kinship care in recent years, mental health support is still far behind. Our recent annual survey revealed mental health support for kinship children is poor and inconsistent.
Seven in 10 kinship carers say a child in their care displays behaviours that they struggle to manage. This number has risen by 17% in just four years.
Today, 26% of kinship carers said their children weren’t receiving the support they need for healthy emotional and social development, compared to 22% in 2016.
Justin Paget via Getty Images
The number of kinship carers who said their children weren’t getting the support they needed to learn and achieve at school rose to 22%, up from 18% in 2022.
Added to this, a third of kinship carers have seen a reduction in support for their children as a result of changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF).
The system isn’t set up to recognise the invaluable work kinship carers do, and the individual needs kinship children have.
While kinship carers can provide safe, loving and stable homes for children, that environment alone cannot heal their trauma. It often comes with its own unique struggles and challenges that are frequently overlooked.
Experiences of trauma, separation and loss can have a major impact on children’s development and may lead to significant emotional and mental health difficulties requiring specialist therapy.
Worryingly, one in 10 kinship carers are worried about whether they can continue caring for their children, with most citing challenges linked to children’s social, emotional and mental health needs.
Unlike people who adopt or foster, most kinship carers often step up during a family crisis with little or no preparation, are more likely to be financially insecure, older and in poorer health. These realities mean they need tailored support.
That sudden change to a kinship carer’s life can leave the child in their care feeling responsible.
Poppy, 25, from London, was raised by her grandmother from the age of eight. She told me: “I felt safe and loved with my grandmother, but it was really hard to cope with what was going on.
“I could see the sacrifices my grandmother was making – giving up her job and trying to raise me without any support. It was incredibly difficult and not part of her life plan, and I felt a bit responsible for that.
Poppy said it wasn’t until she was 17 that somebody finally asked how she was feeling mentally.
“If I’d had that support years earlier, it would have been much easier to manage my anxiety. It’s not fair that so many kinship children are left to struggle alone after such difficult starts in life. We all deserve the support we need to heal,” she said.
For many kinship children, the consequences of this lack of support can last for years. Lucas, 19, from Bradford, grew up in kinship care with his grandmother from the age of three. Like Poppy, he said nobody really asked him how he felt growing up.
“I didn’t even know that I was in kinship care,” he said. “What I needed was somebody who understood my questions about my identity and therapy to help me work out who I was. I knew my nan loved me, but she wasn’t equipped to deal with everything I was experiencing.
“I think early therapeutic support would have really helped me. It needs to change as you grow and begin to understand your story. It needs to recognise that every child’s experience of kinship care is different. And it needs to support kinship carers too, because their wellbeing has an enormous impact on the children they’re raising.”
The government launched a consultation earlier this year on proposals to reform mental health and wellbeing support for adoptive families and eligible kinship families, but these proposals risk further eroding access to vital therapeutic support for kinship children.
We need a system designed to meet the unique needs and circumstances of kinship families. We need quicker, easier access to therapeutic support, support that reaches the whole kinship family and is inclusive of all kinship families.
The cost of getting this wrong will be measured in children’s lives and futures.
Kinship carers are saving the government millions – and these families deserve so much more.
Lucy Peake is chief executive of Kinship, a charity supporting kinship families across England and Wales.
