Forgotten Families: Learning from the EU Kinship Carers Project
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The EU Kinship Carers Project aimed to improve support for kinship carers and prevent harm for children living with them. Interviews found that kinship carers have significant needs including financial stress, social isolation, poor physical and mental health from exhaustion. They felt unprepared to support children's education or deal with risky behaviors. Children experienced damage from their biological parents and carers were worried about drugs and alcohol. The literature review found kinship care should have comparable support to other forms of care. Conclusions were that governments must address financial and legal issues for carers, who desire information, peer support, and feeling appreciated by services.
Forgotten Families: Learning from the EU Kinship Carers Project
- 1. Forgotten Families: learning from the EU Kinship Carers Project
- 2. “I am desperate for my granddaughter to grow up and become a beautiful, bright young woman with so many opportunities at her fingertips; she deserves it following the life she has had so far.”Carer - UK
- 3. The EU Kinship Carers ProjectAimto improve the quality of prevention programmes targeting children and young people living with kinship carers, thus preventing vulnerable children and young people from experiencing harm as a consequence of alcohol or drug use.
- 4. Project OutlineInterviews with carers to assess needsLiterature review to assess promising approachesDevelop and pilot national resources to support carers and childrenCreate training materials to support professional practiceDisseminate and evaluate
- 6. Carers NeedsBecoming a Carer
- 7. Duty
- 8. Guilt
- 9. Stress
- 10. Confusion“It is a heavy and long procedure to take the child from the parents to the care of the grandparents. . A brochure how this procedure would look like and support from professionals instead of immobility and surprise would have made us feel more at ease. Now taking such steps sucks our energy and it is emotionally very heavy.”Carer – Belgium
- 12. Not everyone, but majority
- 13. Financial
- 15. Stopping work
- 16. Housing
- 17. Food
- 18. Making children feel normal
- 19. Unintended consequences“We do not have a washing machine - it’s so hard to wash the children’s clothes by hand; the children need a computer as all the other children from the community have.”Carer – Romania“As the house is bigger I need to use more gas and electricity to heat it so my bills rocket through the roof each month.”Carer – UK
- 21. Isolation – loss of adult friends
- 22. Social stigma
- 26. Sometimes negative"It has been a long time since I have been out. I am alone... my grandchildren are my friends.”Carer – Lithuania “We have received support from both families. The experience has been very rewarding”.Carer – Spain
- 28. Exhaustion
- 29. Depression
- 30. Physical health
- 31. Put needs of children ahead of their own"Very tired, and sometimes do not even want to live”Carer – Lithuania “I came here today feeling that I just wanted to give up and now that I have met these people here I have hope that things will change around for me.”Carer - UK
- 32. Carers NeedsRelationships with Professionals
- 34. Lack of empathy
- 36. Feelings of humiliation“They make you feel so stupid and so sometimes I just agreed to what they were saying in order to get the meeting over and done with.”Carer – UK They feel scrutinized in every inch of their being. This creates inferiority complex and a feeling that you have to beg, for money or help. It is an unhealthy structure.Mentor Sweden
- 38. “I would never say to her that she is different ‘cause I have tried to bring her up in a normal and loving environment as much as possible. But the truth is, she is different; she doesn’t live in a happy home with her mum and dad, she lives with Gran. Her mum’s a junkie and her dad is a good for nothing loser who doesn’t care for her.” Carer - UK
- 40. Carers feel ill-equipped to support children’s education
- 41. Concerns about behaviour in school“We never had the subjects at primary school as they are taught now. This makes it difficult to support our grandchild with homework.”Carer – Belgium"The problems started after 11-12 years. Already at the age of 12 she began run from the school and is in bad company.”Carer – Lithuania
- 42. Children’s NeedsDrug and Alcohol Information
- 43. Carers worried about children being vulnerable
- 45. Expect schools to deliver“We would need support in talking about drug abuse without blaming the parents.”Carer – Belgium "Maybe the school would help to show videos, interviews and lectures about the injury.”Carer – Lithuania
- 47. Recognise the children have been damaged by parents
- 48. Children exhibiting risky behaviour
- 49. Forms of parenting not successful
- 50. But support needs to be couched in terms carers can accept“His sister comes to visit every holidays but his behaviour changes about 2 days before she is to leave, he hits her and shouts at her but when she goes he grabs her and cries because he doesn’t want to see her go, it breaks my heart.”Carer – UK "I cut her hair because I was so angry, maybe I was wrong. (....) But punishment does not work, she is not afraid of anything.“Carer – Lithuania
- 51. Findings from the Needs AssementBecoming a carer is stressful
- 52. Carers are often financially worse off as a result of the decision to become a carer
- 53. There often doesn't seem to be a choice in becoming a carer
- 54. Carers put their own health and wellbeing behind the needs of the children.
- 55. Professionals were sometimes seen as officious and uncaring
- 56. Children had deep emotional needs as a result of what they had experienced
- 57. Many carers were worried about the role that drugs and alcohol might play in the children's lives
- 58. As the children grew older behaviour became a concernFindings from the LiteraturePay attention to the health and well-being of kinship carers and the consequences of such care giving.
- 59. Target interventions toward the promotion of healthy behaviour among new carers.
- 60. Explore how to support kinship carers’ mental health and identify local support groups.
- 61. Services for children in kinship care should be comparable to those in other forms of public care.
- 62. Provide specific support and monitoring to kinship carers of children with a background of parental substance misuse or abusive parents.
- 63. Risks for adolescents suggest the need to provide extra support to carers as well as developing prevention programs targeting these adolescents and families.Conclusions
- 64. "It has been a long time since I have been out. I am alone... my grandchildren are my friends.”Carer – Lithuania www.eukinshipcarers.eu
- 65. Some needs are beyond the scope of this project
- 66. Governments need to sort out the financial and legal issues
- 67. Policy for kinship carers needs to be given higher profile
- 68. Kinship carers express desire for information
- 69. A guide on the process of becoming a carer
- 70. A guide to the law
- 71. Information on drugs and alcohol
- 72. Information on helping the young people in their care to manage their behaviour more productively
- 73. Kinship carers want to share their experiences with their peers
- 74. Kinship carers want to feel appreciated by statutory servicesThe EU Kinship Carers Project has received funding from the European Union in the framework of the Public Health Programme. www.eukinshipcarers.eu
- 75. “As a kinship carer you feel stigma. People look at you differently, as if there is something wrong with you or your family. People get very curious.” Swedish carer