Recognising kinship care

Amy from Adoption UK Scotland, who provided the Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS) until September 2025, talks about what schools can do to recognise and support pupils living in kinship care.

(Please note: KCASS is now provided by Children First)

Paula:

We know that there are lots of different experiences that would fall under the umbrella of care experience. When we think about kinship care in particular, is there anything that schools or professionals should be aware of when supporting a child or a young person?

Amy:

I think it’s being aware of who your kinship young people are. When we talk about kinship care, we don’t necessarily mean formal kinship care. So kinship care can mean an informal agreement between families where a child goes to live with a family member or relationship that is a private arrangement. It’s not just arranged by social work. That is a formal kinship arrangement where an order may be taking place.

I think when I work in schools, actually, schools aren’t aware of actually how many of their population are in kinship care. So my one advice is, be curious. Don’t shy away from having those conversations where, I’ve heard you went to live with granny, how’s that going for you? Making sure that those families are supported. Because actually, in informal kinship care, a lot of people aren’t aware of the support that they might be able to access.

Care Experience