Sibling Kinship Care

Social Disadvantages & Being Marginalised from Support Sibling kinship care can keep brothers and sisters together, protect important family relationships and give children the opportunity to remain connected to their family, community, culture and identity. However, the same families who step forward to provide care can also experience significant disadvantage. Sibling kinship carers may give up work or education, experience financial hardship, live in overcrowded housing and struggle to...

If you are caring for a younger brother or sister, one of the most important things to understand is what type of arrangement you have. Some sibling kinship care arrangements are agreed informally within the family. Others involve social services, fostering arrangements or a court order. The legal arrangement can make a significant difference to who has parental responsibility, who can make important decisions, what support you may receive and what financial help may be available. The...

What is sibling kinship care? Sibling kinship care is when an older brother or sister takes on the main caring responsibility for a younger sibling because their parent or parents are unable to care for them. It is a form of kinship care, sometimes called family and friends care, where a child lives with someone they already know and trust rather than with an unrelated foster carer (Department for Education, 2024). Sibling relationships are often some of the longest relationships we have....