Speaking today (Thursday) following a study from children’s charity Buttle UK and the University of Bristol, which has revealed for the first time that there are more than 15,000 children in Scotland raised by family members because their parents were unable to care for them, Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Jackie Baillie MSP, said:
"This report for the first time casts a light on the army of unsung heroes in Scotland who selflessly look after others.
"Too often kinship carers live not just below the radar, but below the poverty line.
"Kinship carers play a key role in preventing vulnerable young people going into care and I call on the Scottish Government to establish minimum standards for the assessment and support of children in kinship care.
"For too long, there has been a postcode lottery in crucial financial and other support for kinship carers. I urge the Scottish Government to sit down with local authorities and the UK government to resolve this frustrating and unacceptable situation."
Inverclyde was found to have an ‘exceptionally high’ rate of kinship care with approximately three in every hundred children brought up by relatives.
Duncan McNeil, Labour’s MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, added:
"This is a deeply worrying report, and shows that we still have a long way to go to tackle child poverty and do more to support families.
"Because kinship caring is often an informal arrangement, carers don’t always qualify for the help they deserve.
"Kinship carers do a wonderful job bringing up children, often in difficult circumstances, so we need to do more to ensure that they are given the support they need.
"I have already called for more support from the Scottish Government but very little has been forthcoming.
”We need to see action quickly."
ENDS
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