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Supporting our kinship carers

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Support is available for both children and families in kinship care. Whether you need practical advice or emotional support, there are services to help.

Support for children

If you're a child in kinship care, there’s helpful information and guidance available to support you, answer your questions, and make things a little easier to understand.

Virtual schools

Since 2018, the virtual school has supported children who were previously in care. It also provides advice for children living with kinship carers.

​Cambridgeshire Virtual School has appointed an advisor for these children. The advisor’s role is to provide advice and information for children who attend a Cambridgeshire education setting. If the child attends an education setting in another local authority, the advisor will provide the contact details of the relevant virtual school.

The children are eligible to access:​

Support for families

Kinship carers can access a range of support and guidance to help them manage daily challenges and provide the best possible care for the children they look after.

Targeted support

Cambridgeshire County Council provide Early Help services through our Targeted Support district teams. Families can access Targeted Support services if and when they have accessed other local support available to them but still have outstanding needs. Targeted Support is an early intervention service. It aims to provide support to children, young people and families at the earliest possible stage in their journey, to ensure needs are met as quickly as possible. Targeted Support works with children and families from 0-19 years. If there are additional needs, the age range is 0-25 years. It is a planned and structured approach in response to your family’s needs.​

Early Help is about identifying those children, young people and families who need extra help. It makes sure they get the help they need, in the way they need it. If you are a kinship carer and you think you and your family might benefit from some support, you should ask a professional for more information. This could be your doctor, or a teacher at your child’s school. They can tell you more about Early Help Services and Targeted Support.​

You can also contact the Early Help Hub early.helphub@cambridgeshire.gov.uk or call 01480 376 666 (office hours) if you don't know who to ask for help.​​

Post adoption and special guardianship support

There are various post adoption and special guardianship services that Cambridgeshire County Council can offer kinship carers: ​

  • Advice on managing contact ​
  • Supporting families with accessing counselling ​
  • Signposting to relevant and helpful groups and organisations ​
  • Support groups for our families ​
  • Information about the adoption support fund ​
  • Summer picnics for our adoptive and Special Guardianship Order (SGO) families

Advice and support​

We are committed to supporting all kinship carers and children in kinship care. This is whether you are:

  • a household who has a Special Guardianship Order
  • a private foster carer
  • a foster carer
  • in receipt of a Child Arrangement Order
  • an informal kinship carer

If you would like some support you can access this by calling our contact centre by phone:

Our contact centre will get your request and ensure you are directed to the right support. This could include peer support or community services, assistance from the virtual school, health services or training. Where appropriate it may involve accessing the adoption and special guardianship support fund.

Assessment of need and support

If more support is needed after speaking to our duty worker, we can help. A social worker can be assigned to help you complete an assessment of need. There is a simple referral form to complete so we can immediately understand your experiences and what you need. We aim to allocate families to a social worker as quickly as possible. However, at busy times, there can be a wait of up to two months. Whilst waiting, our duty social workers can offer advice and support.​

The assessment will be an opportunity to meet with an allocated social worker. You can discuss the challenges you are facing, what may be going on and why, and what an adoption and special guardianship order involves.

Following assessment, we will draw up a plan. Support may include support from our Targeted Support services. This can be support groups, family assistance and parenting programmes as well as therapeutic support from the Adoption Support Fund.

The social worker will guide you through the process of finding a provider and setting up the support. Once the therapeutic support is in place, you will not have an allocated social worker. However you are able to contact us at any time, through the duty social worker.

If it is felt that your family needs specific support from the team, we will continue to have a social worker for you and your family. Such support may include

  • therapeutic parenting support
  • therapeutic Life Story Work
  • 1-1 support with a child
  • coordinating support with other professionals.​

Crisis support

Unfortunately, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support team is unable to offer immediate support to families in a crisis. We offer support and guidance and work alongside other professionals who are supporting you as a family on a long-term basis. However, we do not provide emergency care. ​

You can access crisis support from Children’s Social Care by phone:

You can also access urgent mental health support. Call your local child and adolescent mental health services provider and request an urgent assessment. Further information can be found at: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) | Child and adolescent mental health services

Additionally, you can contact the contact CPFT’s First Response Service by calling NHS 111 (option 2).​

Community support

Cambridgeshire County Council recognises the valuable work that community organisations do to support kinship carers. We are proud to work in partnership with the kinship care charity. The charity website has a wealth of information for you whether you are offering family and friends care or are currently a carer. Visit the Kinship care charity website.

The Kinship care charity also has a page dedicated to local support groups. Information about current groups is below:

East of England kinship group (online)​

Monthly meet ups. Register online Kinship | East of England Kinship group​

Chatteris kinship carer and special guardian group​

Monthly meet ups on the last Wednesday of every month 10 am -11.30am.​

Location: Green Welly Cafe and Garden Centre, 2a Doddington Road, Chatteris, PE16 6UA​ Contact: Monica​ Phone number: 07985 674782​ Email: monica.fox@kinship.org.uk Register online: Kinship | Chatteris Kinship Carer and Special Guardian Group

Useful links​

Support For Step Parent Adoption