Welcome Kinship Carers of Milton Keynes. This information is for Kinship Carers and their families who live in or who have been assessed by Milton Keynes City Council. This includes Kinship Foster Carers, Special Guardians and those who have a Child arrangement order or no order.
What is Kinship Care?
Kinship Care is a type of caregiving arrangement where a child is looked after by relatives or close family friends. Kinship Care is also known as Connected Persons Care, which is the idea of keeping children within their family when they cannot be cared for by birth parents.
Kinship Care is needed for children when their birth parents are unable to provide safe, stable, or appropriate care - whether due to illness, substance misuse, domestic violence, mental health issues, incarceration, or other challenges. Kinship Care can be a good option for children who are separated from their birth parents, as it offers stability and permanence whilst maintaining links to the child’s birth family.
There are different types of kinship care arrangements – including Kinship Foster Care, Special Guardianship Orders, Child Arrangement Orders, and informal care arrangements.
Our commitment to you:
- We will listen.
- We will not be judgmental.
- We will be open and honest.
- We will be advocates for you and your children.
- We will work alongside you.
- We will signpost you to resources that will support you long-term.
Our goal is to support you in supporting your loved ones.
Our Offer of Support
At Milton Keynes City Council, we recognise that being a Kinship Carer can often be a challenging yet rewarding role which requires support and understanding. We appreciate your role as a Kinship Carer and want to support you in the most effective way.
Regardless of what type of kinship care arrangement you have for a child, we will work alongside you to create a plan that works for your family, and allocate resources based on what you need. The offer of support will vary depending on whether you are a kinship foster carer, special guardian, have a child arrangement order or no order. The documents linked below outline the support you can expect.
Documents
MKCC Virtual School Pupil Premium leaflet for carers
How to Access Support
You are able to self-refer into the Post SGO service. To do this please contact our service via email: PostSGOSupport@milton-keynes.gov.uk or our dedicated phone line: 01908 253652, we will take some brief information from you and schedule in a time to have an initial phone call to discuss your situation/needs and to answer any questions that you may have. Alternatively a professional may refer into our service on your behalf with your consent.
During the initial phone call, we may be able to offer you immediate advice and information or signpost you to universal services that you can access. If we feel that your needs require further exploration, we may offer you a home visit to discuss your situation in more detail.
Once we have gathered the information we need, we will decide what support our service can offer you based on your family’s need.
If your query is urgent, please contact our Fostering Duty Team on 01908 253206 alternatively if it is out-of-hours then please contact the Emergency Social Work Team on 01908 265545.
Support Groups
Being a Kinship Carer can sometimes feel lonely and isolating, it can feel like you are living in a different world that nobody else understands. It can be helpful to meet people who are in a similar situation to you and who truly understand what life is like as a Kinship Carer.
A group of Kinship Carers run a local support group in Milton Keynes called Family and Friends Kinship Carers. The group meet every Thursday (during term-time only) from 9:30am to 11:30am, currently in the Community Room @ Westcroft District Centre.
This group welcomes all those caring for children who are not their own, regardless of the legal status of their arrangement. It also welcomes carers who have no legal arrangement, but who want to explore what possibilities there are for them to support their caring. There are many Kinship Carers in this group with differing lengths of experience.
The group offers friendship, emotional support and has a wide range of experience and information available. The group also operates a WhatsApp group which is permanently open and is available to find information or support.
There’s no need to book, just pop in and chat. The group also operates a WhatsApp group which is permanently open and is available for information and support.
Please email kinshipmk@outlook.com for information about the support group, or feel to drop in on a Thursday morning. You can also call or text Patsy McCarthy on 07891833925 for information about the group.