Nearly 300 children in Chesterfield currently living in kinship care

Kinship care is when a child lives full time with a relative or close family friend, usually because their parents are unable to care for them. There are nearly 300 children currently living in kinship care in Chesterfield, many of whom will have experienced significant trauma in their young lives.

Grandparents are the most common kinship carers, but they may also be older siblings, aunts, uncles or even neighbours.

Kinship care is positively encouraged by local authorities and is shown to give children a better start in life than fostering or local authority care.

However, kinship carers are frequently denied the support available to foster carers and adoptive families, with no statutory right to financial allowances, training and support or parental leave. This leaves kinship carers feeling unrecognized, unsupported and undervalued; and makes an already hard role so much harder.

Kinship is a national charity working on behalf of kinship carers, both through their campaign “Value Our Love” and through the provision of direct support to kinship carers at both national and local levels.

Kinship is currently establishing a local group for kinship carers in the Chesterfield area. The group offers kinship carers, who often feel alone and isolated by their situation, the chance to meet, listen, share and support one another.

The group currently meets on the last Thursday of every month, from 11.00am to 12.30pm, at the HUB, SMH Group Stadium, Sheffield Road, Chesterfield (the home of Chesterfield FC).

If you would like to know more about the Chesterfield Kinship Group or want to let us know you will be attending, please contact [email protected].

To find out more about the work of Kinship at a national level, or to support our campaign, please visit kinship.org.uk.