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

Annex A

methods and engagement with kinship carers (August –October 2025)

Activities: Facilitated peer groups discussions (urban/rural mix, LA-led and third-sector-led), practitioner roundtables, and KCASS Management Information review.

Participants: Kinship carers with varied legal routes (looked after, Section 11, private arrangements)

Approach: Open-ended questions; thematic analysis; consent and anonymisation applied; no social workers present during carer sessions to reduce perceived power dynamics.

Equity considerations: Accessible timings; expenses/childcare support where possible; plain-English materials.

What we heard

• The various legal orders were not understood well and carers often didn’t know what their rights were
• Carers often experience financial hardship when they become kinship carers and financial systems are complex to navigate.
• Carers often felt abandoned and ‘left to get on with it’ and found it difficult to know how to access the right help, often having to fight for it.
• Education and mental health supports for children and young people are hard to access.
• Mental health support for carers was difficult to access, although carers said they needed it to deal with the complex needs of the children they cared for and the traumatic and strained family relationships they experienced
• Housing barriers disrupt stability.
• Stigma and lack of recognition.
• Carers spoke highly of their local authority kinship team in areas where they had them
• Carers described peer support groups as a lifeline
• Carers spoke warmly of their love for the children they cared for and their pride in children’s achievements in the face of adversity