Scotland's Vision for Kinship Care: Our Offer of Support for Families - For engagement and consultation

4. Research and Engagement

Our working vision and offer for kinship care is informed by research and the lived experience of kinship carers, children and families. We also engaged with local authorities and local partners, including the third-sector, and drew on insights from earlier work by the Kinship Care Collaborative.

What the research tells us

Emerging CELCIS work and published Scottish statistics indicate that kinship care, when well supported, can sustain family, school and community connections, reduce placement disruption and help continuity of identity. Barriers commonly highlighted include variable access to advice and income maximisation, uneven local support offers, gaps in trauma-informed help, and challenges navigating legal/assessment pathways. These findings shape our vision and offer which focus on early, proportionate support and clearer local delivery expectations.

Children and young people’s perspectives

Listening to babies, children and young people is central. For pre-verbal children we commit to ‘voice of the infant’ practice, for older children, participation feedback emphasises the need for timely information, stability of relationships, and support for family time where safe. Across ages, young people want professionals to explain decisions clearly and to evidence how their views informed those decisions.

Kinship carers’ engagement

We met carers across Scotland through peer support groups in urban and rural areas and drew on professional insights from local services and The Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS) management information. Carers consistently highlighted: (i) the need for clear information at the outset (ii) reliable income maximisation and practical help (iii) straightforward access to emotional/therapeutic support and (iv) better coordination between services (health, education, social work). Further detail is at Annex A.

Stakeholder workshops and system insight

We also held workshops with local partners and national stakeholders, including members of the Kinship Care Collaborative. Differing views were expressed and local partners raised points around ensuring the right support at the right time, the impact of different legal orders on support, the definition of kinship care, the role of GIREFC, resourcing implications, the role of the community etc. Some enablers to existing barriers were also identified including: clearer local ‘kinship offers’, common templates/guidance, proportionate data for improvement and stronger LA–Health collaboration in the early years.

We have used all of the above research and engagement to inform this working vision and offer for families. We plan to engage further over the period January to March 2026 to seek views, ideas and thoughts with a final version to be published by spring 2026. More details are set out in Section 7- Next Steps and Consultation.