Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director of Children and Young People's Service.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet agree and approve the content and publication of the Kinship Local Offer.

Consideration was given to the report which presented the Kinship Local Offer, attached at Appendix 1 of the report, for approval. The Kinship Local Offer was a guide to all the support available to kinship carers in Rotherham. The report outlined how the offer addressed the Council’s statutory obligations to kinship carers and its commitment to keeping families together and providing timely, needs-led support to kinship carers.

In October 2024, the Government issued statutory guidance on ‘Kinship Care’, which included a definition (now enshrined in the draft Children’s Wellbeing and Schools bill before Parliament) of kinship care: ‘any situation in which a child is being raised in the care of a friend or family member who is not their parent. The arrangement may be temporary or longer term.’ This covered a wide span from informal arrangements and private fostering to Children in Care fostered by family or friends, and children subject to Court orders providing their family or friends with parental responsibility.

The October 2024 statutory guidance required each local authority to

publish a Kinship Local Offer. It also extended the role of the Virtual School

Head to champion the attainment, attendance, and progress of children in

kinship care, and extended the role of the Virtual School to provide advice and

information to kinship carers. Within the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools bill,

both the expectation of the local offer and the role of the Virtual School Head

were included. A senior manager had to be nominated to ensure the kinship local offer met statutory requirements and that it was responsive to the needs of kinship children and their carers.

The statutory guidance set out that the Kinship Local Offer must:

·       Set out services available to each kinship arrangement.

·       Provide support based on the needs of kinship children rather than legal status.

·       Be developed in collaboration with partner agencies.

·       Be well-publicised.

·       Mitigate against potential barriers to accessing support.

The report confirmed that the Kinship Local Offer attached at Appendix 1 addressed each of these requirements and was expected to address:

·       Support groups and training.

·       Financial support.

·       Help to stay in work.

·       Accommodation.

·       Education.

·       Supporting family time.

·       Family group decision making.

·       Legal support.

·       Therapeutic support.

Kinship carers were consulted on the Kinship Local Offer and the potential reshaping of the service for Special Guardians through an online survey (shared via the Post-SGO Support Team mailing list (183 people) and Facebook group (167 people)) and meeting with kinship carers at an established forum. 14 responses were received from the survey and 6 kinship families participated in the forum. Further details of the consultation undertaken had been included in Appendix 2 – Equality Analysis.

The Offer was also subjected to pre-decision scrutiny at the Improving Lives Select Commission on 17 June 2025. They made the following recommendations:

·       That additional information be included into specific sections of the draft Kinship Local Offer, such as further information on trauma and adding hyperlinks to the specific policies referenced in the document.

·       A short leaflet be developed to sit alongside the Kinship Local Offer, which would include an overview of the support available and would signpost people to the Kinship Navigators.

·       That the language used in the draft Kinship Local Offer is reviewed to ensure it would be accessible to all, including young people.

The Strategic Director of Children and Young People’s Services confirmed that those recommendations would be taken forward as part of the work on the Offer. It was confirmed that the document was a “live” document and would be continually updated.

Cabinet Members were supportive of the good and comprehensive piece of work.

Resolved:

That Cabinet agree and approve the content and publication of the Kinship Local Offer.