There are more than 200,000 children and young people living in Kinship Care in the UK, and the number is growing fast.  The needs of Kinship Carers, family members or family friends who care for children when their birth parents cannot, are often overlooked or misunderstood.  Carers themselves can struggle with all the challenges of welcoming the child into their family life and supporting them at home and at school. 

This is especially true when the child or young person has experienced trauma from the circumstances which lead to them moving into Kinship Care, as well as the ongoing separation from their parent(s), their previous life, and the challenges of contact.  

Having worked with Kinship Families for many years, Educational Psychologist Dr Rachel King will be introducing her Belonging Model, created by drawing on practice-based evidence of supporting Carers through the process of enabling their child to feel safe, settle and thrive in their new home, as well as at school.  

She will also highlight some of the resources within her new, accessible and practical book, Kinship Caring (2024), and the accompanying Kinship Family App for Kinship Carers to use with schools. 

You may want to look at Rachael's book Kinship Caring and buy it in our BOOKSHOP, each book comes with a free Kinship Family App, or you can view and buy the app on its own by going to our APPS