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Welcome to Health Hub. - a Community-Centred Prevention Initiative Covering the local government wards of Datchet, Horton & Wraysbury. A unique approach to community holistic care. Started in 2023 it brought together local GP Services, wider NHS care, Social Prescribing, Local Authority Adult Services, Housing Services and a range of independent practitioners with local community…

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Kinship care is when a child is looked after by a relative, close friend, or someone with a significant relationship to them because their parents are unable to provide care. It’s a way to keep children connected to their family, community, and culture.

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This is a peer support group run by Kinship staff and is open to all kinship carers in the Datchet area to meet and support one another.

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This is a peer support group run by Kinship staff for kinship carers in the Maidenhead area to meet in a safe friendly space.

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Lets Get Creative is for all kinship carers in Berkshire, including connected carers and special guardians, plus their children aged 5 to 12.

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Lets Get Creative is for all kinship carers in Berkshire, including connected carers and special guardians, plus their children aged 5 to 12.

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Social groups As a parent/carer you may feel that more information, help, or advice is needed when supporting the needs of your child, who may have behavioural, sensory, social and/or communication challenges. We at GEMS recognise this and have provided a variety of courses that will help develop your knowledge of autism and/or attention deficit...

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Support for Parents & Carers | Parenting Special Children

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We have wide a range of information, advice and resources for parents & carers to help you support the children and young people in your life

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Parent/carer SEND Forum for RBWM

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SEND advice for parents and carers in RBWM

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SEND tips and advice - BBC Parents' Toolkit - BBC Bitesize

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Activities, advice and personal stories about parenting and special educational needs and disabilities to help you support your family.

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Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

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Children with special educational needs (SEN) can get the help they need to get an education - SEN support, education, health and care plans, SEN before September 2014

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Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

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Information and advice on what support you’re entitled to as a kinship carer raising a child with special educational needs or a disability.

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Information and advice for kinship carers on how to make contact time with family a positive experience for the child.

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Preparing a child for contact time with family

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Preparing a child for contact time with family

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Preparing a child for contact time with family

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Information and advice on how you can prepare and support a child for contact time with family as a kinship carer.

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Contact time with family is how a child in kinship care spends arranged time with their parents or other family members.

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How and why you should get legal advice as a kinship carer, including finding a solicitor, legal aid and links to other sources of help.

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Advice on employment rights for kinship carers who need time off work, including flexible working, time for dependants and parental leave.

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How to make a complaint about children's services 

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How to make a complaint about children's services 

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Who else can help?

If you've followed the complaints process and are not happy with the outcome. There are other organisations and people that can help.

Local Government Ombudsman

You can ask the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to look at your case.

The ombudsman will decide whether children's services have done something wrong which has directly affected you and caused you an injustice.

You should normally complain to the ombudsman within 12 months of the final decision.

If the ombudsman decides that children's services have done something wrong, it may recommend that action is taken to put things right.

Although the ombudsman can't make authority's do what it recommends, they will usually act on what the ombudsman says.

The ombudsman can ask children's services to:

carry out an assessment of the child's needs

make sure the services and support provided meet the identified needs of the child

make changes to its procedures so that the same problem doesn't happen in the future

The Local Government Ombudsman lists recent successful complaints on their website: search lgo.org.uk.

Your local councillor or MP

Sometimes it may help to involve your local councillor and/or MP. You could ask them to intervene even if you are still going through the complaints procedure.

In local authorities which deliver children's services, there will be a specific councillor responsible for children and families. They might be called the Lead Member for Children and Families or Cabinet Member for Children's Services. Councillors and MPs usually hold regular in-person surgeries, either at their offices or in local facilities such as libraries.

You can find who your councillors are and contact them at gov.uk/find-your-local-councillors.

You can find out who your local MP is at members.parliament.uk/members/commons.

You can find details of your local councillors and MP, and send them messages directly, by entering your post code at writetothem.com.

The High Court

If your complaint is urgent or if you have exhausted the complaints procedure, you may be able to apply for judicial review. This is when the High Court looks at the way a decision was reached to see if it was legally correct.

Judicial review is a complicated area of the law and can be very expensive. If you are considering it, you should consult a solicitor specialising in this area of law. Strict deadlines usually apply to judicial review applications, so you should get legal advice as soon as possible.

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How to make a complaint about children's services

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If you are unhappy about the way children's services are working with you, you can make a complaint. Read this page to find out how.

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How do I obtain parental responsibility for the child I am caring for?

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How do I obtain parental responsibility for the child I am caring for?

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Can I apply for parental responsibility as a child's carer?

If you are a grandparent, close relative or friend who has stepped up to raise a child who is not your own, there are two types of legal order that you can apply for that will give you parental responsibility - special guardianship order and child arrangements order.

You will need make an application to the court. You can apply for a legal order to the family court if you meet the following eligibility criteria:

you are the child's grandparents, aunt or uncle, brother or sister, stepparent, stepbrother or stepsister, and the child has lived with you for at least a year

you are a guardian of the child who was appointed by the parent or special guardian to look after the child after they died

you are a local authority foster carer, who has had the child placed with you for at least a year, or

you are not related, and the child has lived with you for at least three years out of the last five

You can also apply for parental responsibility if you have the consent of:

anyone who already holds a residence order or child arrangements order for the child

the local authority, if the child is in their care, or

everyone else who holds parental responsibility

If you don't meet the eligibility criteria above, you can still make an application to the court. We'd recommend getting legal advice in this case.

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How do I obtain parental responsibility for the child I am caring for?

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Find out how you can obtain parental responsibility for your grandchild, nephew, niece or any child you are caring for.

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This guide explains how to prepare and what you can expect in court if you are a kinship carer involved in legal proceedings.

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Working with social workers and children's services 

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Working with social workers and children's services 

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Working with social workers and children’s services

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Find out about children’s services, social workers, family support workers. And learn how kinship carers can contact them and get support.

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What local authorities should offer kinship carers

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What local authorities should offer kinship carers

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Local authorities must follow the Children Act 1989

The Children Act 1989 is the primary child protection legal framework for England and Wales. All local authorities must follow key Act principles, ensuring:

child welfare is the paramount consideration

minimal delay when making decisions for children

It also states every local authority must:

promote the upbringing of children in need by their wider families (see definition of "children in need" below)

provide a range and level of children's services appropriate to those in need

safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area

The Children Act 1989 is made up of sections, which you'll often see references to on our website - for example, 'section 17 support'.

Section 17 of the Children's Act places a general duty on local authorities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in their area.

However, the provision of financial support or practical support under Section 17 is discretionary. This means it is down to them to decide what financial and practical support or access to services they should provide.

If you're concerned about how local children's services are working for you or your kinship child, you can ask for support from Kinship, or read our advice guide on making a complaint.

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What local authorities should offer kinship carers

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Find out what support kinship carers should generally expect from their local authority, and the legal duty they have to children in your area

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Adoption and special guardianship support fund for kinship carers

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Adoption and special guardianship support fund for kinship carers

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Adoption and special guardianship support fund for kinship carers

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Information about the adoption and special guardianship support fund for kinship carers, including how to apply who is eligible.

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Information on Universal Credit for kinship carers, including what Universal Credit is and how caring for children affects what you get.

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Information on help available in England and Wales, for kinship carers to meet the costs of school and childcare.

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Financial support with childcare costs                                     

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Financial support with childcare costs                                     

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Childcare can be expensive. As a kinship carer, you may be entitled to financial support to help with the cost of childcare. Find out more.

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Child arrangements order financial support and benefits 

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Child arrangements order financial support and benefits 

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Child arrangements order financial support and benefits

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Types of financial support and government benefits available to kinship carers with a child arrangements order.

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Kinship foster carers financial support and benefits 

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Kinship foster carers financial support and benefits 

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Kinship foster carers financial support and benefits

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Information about foster care allowance and other types of financial support and government benefits available to kinship foster carers.

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Contact details for reporting safeguarding concerns - RBWM

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Family Rights Group - support with education

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Family Rights Group - support with education

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Kinship care and support with education - Family Rights Group

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This page highlights some of the types of support and some key terms kinship carers may want to know about when thinking about their child’s education.

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Is your child struggling with difficult thoughts or feelings?

Whether you're a parent, carer, or guardian, it's important that you're able to support the young person in your life - and we're here to help.

Here you will find expert advice and tips, as well as a summary of the mental health support we offer.

Some support you may be able to ask to access yourself. This is called self-referral. Other times, a GP, teacher, or social worker will need to request this support for you.

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Discover how you can better support children and young people when they're going through a tough time

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Adoptive parents, special guardians, kinship carers and foster carers

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As an adoptive parent, special guardian, kinship carer or foster carer, you play a vital role in supporting a child or young person who has had a unique start in life.

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Themes include talking to your child, parenting in the digital world and parenting a child with issues.

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Welcome to MindEd for Families, Children and Young People. We hope you like our new design. If you are a regular user you might find that some of the topics have moved, or the titles have been changed slightly. But we still have all the same great content, and we hope it will be easy to find what yo…

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coram beanstalk – volunteer as a trained reading helper in a primary school to provide one-to-one literacy support

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At Coram Beanstalk we want every child to be a confident reader and every adult to feel comfortable reading with the children in their lives. This section has lots of useful tips to help you grow a love of reading, including our myth-busting film.

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Sharing a book with your child can be a magical experience. By building story time into your bedtime routine you and your child will be:

Entering a shared world to explore and learn together

Letting your child's imagination run free

Introducing your little one to new words and meanings

Giving them the chance to ask questions

Helping them to relax and soothe sleep

Having fun together!

The Department for Education's Hungry Little Minds campaign, delivered in partnership with the National Literacy Trust, has lots of ideas to make your story time special:

Repeat, repeat, repeat

Reading the same book again and again will help your child to get to know the story. Once they know it well, ask them about what's happening in book and praise them when they respond.

Look at the pictures

The beauty of children's books is that it doesn't matter if you don't read all the words - you can tell a story from the pictures! If your child knows the book well, or even if they don't, let them have a go at becoming the storyteller just from looking at the pictures on the page. It will help them to improve their speaking skills and grow more confident.

Let them choose

Your child will enjoy choosing books for themselves from a bookshelf they can reach or book box at home, or even ebooks on a phone or tablet. This will help you both to discover the kind of stories they enjoy the most.

Listen up

Your child might prefer to listen to audiobooks. Why not listen together for a completely immersive and relaxing experience?

Take a trip to the library

Visit your local library with your child to find loads of new stories and activities together!

Words for Life has lots of activity suggestions to help make the most of reading with your child.
Find out more.

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Sharing a book with your child can be a magical experience. By building story time into your bedtime routine you and your child will be: Entering a shared world to explore and learn together Letting your child's imagination run free Introducing your little one to new words and meanings Giving them the chance to ask questions Helping them to relax and soothe sleep Having fun together!

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Using stories to discuss emotions and identity

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Using stories to discuss emotions and identity

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Reading with the children in your care can help create joyful moments and happy memories. It can also help you explore topics like identity and coping with difficult emotions. In this guide, you'll learn how you can use stories to start these discussions. Plus, find out how to win a personalised book featuring your own family at the bottom of the page.

This advice applies to: England

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Using stories to discuss emotions and identity in your kinship family

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Information and advice for kinship carers. Learn how to use books and stories to explore subjects like emotional wellbeing and identity.

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Titles for KS2 children around mental health. A collection designed to read with siblings and carers.

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Sharing stories helps build emotional connections.

Sharing stories with your child is a great way to have a moment of closeness and connection. Find tips, videos and support for unlocking the magic of stories below and on Kinship Compass . It can help build bonds, underpin stability and create moments of joy .

This support has been developed with kinship carers and the charity Kinship as part of a new training service for the Department for Education's Kinship Care Strategy. ​

It is for all kinship carers in England including informal kinship carers, special guardians and kinship foster carers. New resources and training will be added regularly and look out for the BookTrust stall at each of Kinship's upcoming roadshows. ​

A kinship carer is someone who steps in to raise a child when their parents can't . They're usually grandparents, aunts or uncles, brothers or sisters and sometimes friends. ​

Remember there is no right or wrong way to share a story ​

You can share stories anytime, anywhere ​

You don't have to read a book cover to cover, you can just dip in and out

Explore our recommended books about families for kinship carers.

Explore our recommended books about feelings for kinship carers of younger children.

Explore more of our recommended books about feelings for kinship carers of older children.

Be inspired and discover your child's next favourite book with the BookTrust Bookfinder.

Looking for something fun as a family? Enjoy story time with our free online books, play games, win prizes, or test your knowledge in our book-themed quizzes.

Sharing stories with your child is a great way to help them learn about the world around them. Explore the videos below to find out more, and for ideas on how to get started.

Thanks to Wonderbly, we are offering this unique prize.

We have teamed up with the publisher Wonderbly to give you the chance to win a personalised book with your family in it! In this search-and-find book, the children are on an epic adventure to rescue the adults. You can personalise the family, adding up to three children and two adults, and can customise their skin tone, hairstyle and hair colour. These books are perfect for little ones aged 4-10. The competition is exclusively for Kinship carers.

We are delighted to be giving away one Wonderbly personalised book for two lucky winners who fill in the form below by 11pm, Monday 31st March 2025. Good Luck!

Back to top

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Our work to support kinship carers who care for children

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UK trauma council - childhood trauma and the brain

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UK trauma council - childhood trauma and the brain

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Childhood Trauma and the Brain animation and accompanying educational materials for professionals and carers supporting children and young people.

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Guardians guide to understanding and improving behaviour

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Guardians guide to understanding and improving behaviour

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While the content of this guide is very useful, you will need to refer to the services available from your council.

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Responding, not reacting

Children and young people who display challenging behaviour need calm adults to respond to them. When working with guardians and children having a hard time with behaviour, we help them build skills to respond to a child's needs, rather than react to a situation.

Here's a simple example. Say the child you care for comes home from school and throws their bag down in the hallway. You might have told them previously to hang their bag and your natural reaction may be to say, "pick the bag up right now".

If you have told them lots of times before, throwing the bag is likely them communicating something else. There is a chance they are not just being defiant or lazy. Children's behaviour does the job of communicating, "I'm having a tough time," even if they don't say it out loud.

How might you respond? Instead of immediately telling them off, choose to be available and curious. You could say, "It looks like you may have had a rough day. How about we make a snack together, then we can hang your bag up?"

Of course, the child may push back at first. But if you are patient, persevere and keep reassuring them that you are available, even in tough times, you may see that your connection improves.

Therapeutic parenting

Looking for ways to respond and not react is a more nurturing approach to parenting, also called therapeutic parenting. It can be hard because, for most people, it's not how they were cared for themselves as children.

At first, therapeutic parenting can feel unfamiliar and counter-intuitive. It's common for guardians to feel they are 'coddling' children or rewarding bad behaviour when they need discipline or punishment.

However, it is an approach backed by evidence - it works. When practiced over time, therapeutic parenting help you teach the child you care for how to communicate and behave. It is backed by many studies and childcare experts from around the world, as summarised in The Complete Guide to Therapeutic Parenting [Amazon ↗].

Our team can give you the support you need to learn more and get started. You can also read more about therapeutic parenting in our guide to Supporting a child with trauma.

Benefits of therapeutic parenting

Many long-term studies show therapeutic parenting styles can help children grow up to be more confident. They become capable of problem-solving and forming deeper connections to their family and friends than children raised with more traditional parenting methods.

Therapeutic parenting approaches are especially beneficial to children who have experienced early life trauma too. They help them build feelings of trust, security and openness. Children are still given the clear boundaries they need, but get support during difficult moments.

The guidebook The A - Z of Therapeutic Parenting (read a free sample on Amazon ↗) provides step-by-step guides on how to approach 60 common behavioural challenges in raising children (and has 1000+ 5 star reviews you can see on Amazon ↗).

Many guardians find this approach to behaviour makes more sense to them when we think about how these principles apply to their own lives.

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Understanding and improving behaviour - Guardians' Guide

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Responding, not reacting Children and young people who display challenging behaviour need calm adults to respond to them. When working with guardians and children having a hard time with behaviour, we help them build skills to respond to a child's needs, rather than react to a situation. Here's a simple example.

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Anna Freud resources - understanding your child

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Anna Freud resources - understanding your child

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Adoptive parents, special guardians, kinship carers and foster carers

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As an adoptive parent, special guardian, kinship carer or foster carer, you play a vital role in supporting a child or young person who has had a unique start in life.

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Skip to content

What we do

Help & advice

Helpful information and guidance on a range of key online safety topics.

The Childnet Film Competition 2024 is open!

Do you know any young people aged 7-18 who are passionate about film? Can they tell a good story, create animation or inspire positive change? Would they like to make a short film about online safety?
Then enter the competition now!

Download brand new interactive resource ReelLife!

An interactive resource to help young people aged 9-14 identify the potential risks of social media.
Check out the resource...

Try out the Childnet Digital Leaders Programme today!

A youth leadership training programme empowering young people to educate their peers about online safety.
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Blog

The latest advice and guidance on key online safety issues, as well as information on the latest apps and games.

Free resources to help you teach about online safety.

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking "Accept All", you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.

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Childnet - Online safety for young people

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Helping make the internet a great and safe place for children and young people.

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We won't stop until every child is safe online.

The COVID-19 pandemic means children are online more than ever. In the first year of the pandemic, our helpline saw a 45% increase in contacts from people worried about online sexual abuse.

"An increase in screen time has also resulted in a significant upward trend in online abuse."
Ofcom, December 2020

Together we can make sure it's safe for every child to go online. We're here to support parents with online safety advice, and we're here for children - to protect them and help them recover from abuse.
Help us protect children online Worried about something?

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We won't stop until every child is safe online. The COVID-19 pandemic means children are online more than ever. In the first year of the pandemic, our helpline saw a 45% increase in contacts from people worried about online sexual abuse. "An increase in screen time has also resulted in a significant upward trend in online abuse."

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Our peer support groups will help you get the support you need and connect with other kinship carers in your local area.

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South East Kinship Carers Support Group (Online)

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South East Kinship Carers Support Group (Online)

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For any kinship carers from Southampton to Buckinghamshire and across to Kent. Come together online each month to chat to other kinship carers in the South East.

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For any kinship carers from Southampton to Buckinghamshire and across to Kent. Come together online each month.

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CATCH provides a range of online resources for AfC kinship carers - code is available to access on request

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CATCH - Children And Trauma Community Hub | PACT Charity

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The Children And Trauma Community Hub (CATCH) is an online platform providing support to adopters, foster carers, special guardians and professionals.

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Family Rights Group - Get help and support

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Family Rights Group - Get help and support

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Free, independent and confidential advice for parents, kinship carers, relatives and friends of children who are involved with children’s services in England or need their help. We support families to work with social workers and understand the law, their rights and options.

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By phone or email

To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). For Textphone dial 18001 followed by the advice line number. Or email us anytime using the advice enquiry form below.

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By phone or email To speak to an adviser, please call our free and confidential advice line 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm, excluding Bank Holidays). For Textphone dial 18001 followed by the advice line number. Or email us anytime using the advice enquiry form below.

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The Kinship advice team are specialists in supporting kinship carers across England and Wales. We can support you wherever you are in your kinship journey.

From thinking about becoming a kinship carer to supporting you as you care for your kinship child or children – we’re here for you.

Life can be overwhelming. We’ll give you advice and information to try and make your life as a kinship carer a bit easier. Kinship is non-judgemental. We’re friendly and we’ll help you navigate a sometimes complex and confusing system.

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Contact our specialist Kinship advice team and get free advice, information and support to help you as a kinship carer in England and Wales.

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Information and all the key facts about whether you’re eligible to claim Child Benefit as a kinship carer.

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Information and advice for kinship carers on adoption, how to adopt a child, alternatives to adoption and available support.

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Testamentary guardianship means appointing someone to look after the child you care for in the event of your death. You can do this through a will or in writing.

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Information on child arrangements orders for kinship carers, including how you get one, how they work and available support.

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Information on special guardianship orders for kinship carers, including how you get one, how they work and available support.

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Information on private foster care, including how you become a foster carer, what that means and what support is available.

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What is kinship foster care? Learn about this arrangement, formerly known as family and friends foster care, and what support is available.

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Information on informal kinship care arrangements, including how you become an informal kinship carer and available support.

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Health and wellbeing, Relationships and parenting

Learn about life story work - what it is, when to consider it, techniques to carry it out (and get support), as well as how it can help kinship children build a positive self-image.

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Advice and information for kinship carers in England and Wales, covering subjects including finances, contact with parents and the law.

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DfE guide on school exclusions and behaviour

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DfE guide on school exclusions and behaviour

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A guide for parents on school behaviour and exclusion

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This guide is intended to support parents whose children attend a maintained school, pupil referral unit, academy school or alternative provision academy in England. It applies from 1 September 2023.

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Stepping up to raise a child can incur additional costs, such as paying for a school uniform or school meals. Here’s how to get financial help with school costs.

This advice applies to England and Wales

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Information on help available in England and Wales, for kinship carers to meet the costs of school and childcare.

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Pupil premium plus is special funding for schools in England to promote the education of pupils who are or have been in the care of children’s services.

This advice applies to children attending schools in England

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How Pupil Premium Plus can help provide financial support for kinship carers in England where a child is in care of social services.

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How schools can support children in kinship care

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How schools can support children in kinship care

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Schools have a responsibility towards children and young people in kinship care. Find out how the school should be supporting your child.

This advice applies to schools in England

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Some schools provide the following support

The following is provided by some schools and is good practice.

Support with behaviour

A child or young person in kinship care may have past experiences that impact their behaviour. The school should recognise this and support your child to improve their behaviour. They should consider their difficult past experiences and incorporate trauma-informed, attachment aware practices.

Where a previously looked-after child is at risk of exclusion, the designated teacher should talk to you about their behaviour. They can also ask the advice of the virtual school to help avoid excluding your child from school.

One point of contact

As a kinship carer, you should expect clear lines of communication with the school. This is much easier in primary schools, where a child usually has a single class teacher. In secondary school it can be harder because a child has many teachers.

You can ask the school for a single person to communicate with, to avoid confusion or duplication of information. This could be the designated teacher, form tutor, or a member of the pastoral team.

It is also good practice for your child to have a trusted adult in school. This would be a member of staff they could go to if they experience any sort of difficulty.

Information on academic progress, aspirations and teaching methods

Schools should have high aspirations for children in kinship care. They should realise that all pupils can achieve their academic potential, despite their past traumas. They should also understand that experiencing care is not a reflection of a child's academic ability.

The school should keep you informed about the academic progress of your child. You should be made aware of your child's strengths and areas where they need more support. If you are not being kept up-to-date or want to talk about your child's academic progress, contact your child's teacher or school.

Support with transitions

A transition is a move between schools, for example primary to secondary school, or a move between classes, for example reception to year 1. This change can be a difficult experience for children who may have already experienced significant disruption in their lives.

Transitions should be managed carefully by schools. Teachers should be mindful that children in kinship care may need a longer and a more gradual transition than other pupils. For example, they may need to visit a secondary school earlier and more frequently than others before they start. Transport to school should be organised well before the pupil's start date, with a 'trial run' of the journey if possible.

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How schools can support children in kinship care

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What can kinship carers expect from schools? Find out how schools can support children and young people in kinship care.

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Finding the right school for a child in kinship care is an important decision for your family.

This advice applies to England

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Moving schools

If your child moved to a new area to live with you, they may have a long way to travel to get to their old school. This can be hard for everyone to deal with. You may want to think about moving your child to a school closer to your home, but you need to find a balance between what your child wants and what they need.

A move between schools is called a transition. This also applies to moving classes. A transition can be a difficult experience for a kinship child. Change can be hard, and they are likely to have already gone through big changes and disruptions.

The school should help manage the transition. You can ask them how they will support your child, or children, to adapt to their new school - taking into account their needs and what they have experienced already.

Children in kinship care may need a longer and more gradual transition than other pupils. They might need to:

visit their new school before they start

visit more frequently than others who may be transitioning at the same time

meet with a supportive teacher before they start

At home, you may want to consider:

establishing and maintaining daily routines ahead of the transition

encouraging the child to express their feelings and concerns

offering reassurance and positive reinforcement

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Finding a school for the child you care for is an important life decision for your kinship family. What should you think about?