Kinship Carers carry out a very important role in supporting children whose parents are unable to care for them for various reasons.
Bromley gave a shout out in Kinship Care Week to these amazing people who make a significant commitment to take on the responsibility of caring for the children involved, lasting throughout childhood until they reach independence. This can be taken on by a relative or friend, known as the child’s special guardian or connected person foster carer.
Kinship Care Week aims to increase visibility of children raised in kinship care and celebrates the enormous efforts and sacrifices of those caring for them. There are more than 162,000 children being raised in kinship care in England and Wales.
Councillor Kate Lymer, Executive Councillor for Children, Education and Families, said: “My sincere thanks go out to all the amazing kinship carers we have in the borough. It was delightful to see our carers reflect on their experiences and happy memories from this year, and where appropriate, share some of these anonymously. These stories serve as continuing inspiration to others who may be facing similar challenging circumstances.”
During Kinship Care Week, the council hosted a number of engaging events in appreciation of kinship care including a kinship carers’ lunch and family bowling event. Bromley’s Permanency Team encourages people to keep sharing their stories with them directly and they will be pleased to continue using these anonymously to inspire others following the introduction of this Kinship Care Week initiative, to help ensure all children in Bromley receive the support they deserve.
This year, all carers and members of the public were encouraged to “Do one thing” – “Do one thing” to raise awareness.
The Kinship Care Team invite carers to continue emailing them about “Do one thing.” Emails can be sent to Connectedpersonduty@bromley.gov.uk.
For more information on kinship care in Bromley, please download the Bromley Permanency app from the App Store or the Bromley Permanency app from Google Play
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For media enquiries, please contact Susie Clark, Public Affairs, on 020 8461 7911 or email susie.clark@bromley.gov.uk.