Information

Scottish Parliament election: 7 May. This site won't be routinely updated during the pre-election period.

Kinship Care Statistics

Statistics on children in kinship care using data from Scotland's Census 2022.


Ethnicity, language and religion

Table 3 shows that the majority of children both in kinship care (93%) and in other households (88%) were white. The proportion was broadly similar for both groups for those recorded as Caribbean or Black, and the proportion was slightly lower in children in kinship care in all other ethnic groups.

Table 3 Ethnicity of Children in Kinship Care and Other Households

Children in kinship care and other households by ethnicity.

Kinship care indicator

Ethnicity

White

Mixed or multiple ethnic group

Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British

African: African, African Scottish or African British

Caribbean or Black

Other ethnic group

Total

Kinship care child

Total

11,860

220

380

220

30

90

12,800

Kinship care child

Percentage

92.7

1.7

3.0

1.7

0.2

0.7

100

All others in households

Total

873,010

26,700

53,260

19,810

1,370

12,820

986,980

All others in households

Percentage

88.5

2.7

5.4

2.0

0.1

1.3

100

Table 4 shows the main language of children aged three and over in kinship care. The main language for the majority of children in kinship care was English (97%). 0.3% of children spoke Gaelic or Scots as their main language. BSL or Other Sign Language was the main language for 0.2%, Polish the main language for 0.5%, and the remaining 2.4% had Other recorded as their main language. These are broadly similar to the proportions with each main language in other households, with small variations that may be due to the small numbers in some groups.

Table 4 Main Language of Children in Kinship Care and Other Households

Children in kinship care and other households by main language.

Kinship care indicator

Main language

English

Gaelic or Scots

BSL or other sign language

Polish

Other

Total

Kinship care child

Total

11,470

40

20

60

280

11,860

Kinship care child

Percentage

96.7

0.3

0.2

0.5

2.4

100

All others in households

Total

807,600

1,420

600

9,740

23,650

843,010

All others in households

Percentage

95.8

0.2

0.1

1.2

2.8

100

Table 5 shows the religion of children in kinship care. The majority of children in both the kinship care group and in other households were recorded as having no religion (62% in both). A quarter (26%) of children in both groups were recorded as being Christian. The proportion where religion was not stated was slightly higher in the kinship care group (9%) than in other households (6%).

Table 5 Religion of Children in Kinship Care and Other Households

Children in kinship care and other households by religion.

Kinship care indicator

Religion

No religion

Christian

Religion not stated

Muslim

Other religion

Kinship care child

Total

7,940

3,340

1,210

230

100

Kinship care child

Percentage

62.0

26.1

9.5

1.8

0.8

All others in households

Total

613,270

256,750

62,580

40,240

14,140

All others in households

Percentage

62.1

26.0

6.3

4.1

1.4

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