PEOPLE who care for the children of family members are to be given the same rights as foster parents, it was announced yesterday.
Until now, "kinship carers" have had little access to support services and been offered no official financial support.
However, those who take on the responsibility as a primary carer for the children of family members will now have access to fin
ancial support, training, information and respite services.
Those who qualify for the new allowance will receive between £119 and £198 a week, placing them on a par with foster carers.
The move is part of a wider strategy on fostering, which will see the introduction of a national protocol for dealing with complaints and allegations against carers by children.
There are currently 4,000 foster carers in the UK, while a further 2,000 children live with kinship carers. However, it is estimated that a further 10,000 children are cared for by relatives on an informal basis.
Unveiling the new strategy yesterday, Adam Ingram, the children and early years minister, said: "It has been seen as an unfair anomaly that, in the past, people looking after children - on the one hand foster carers - could get £118 or over that, while kinship carers couldn't.
"They are very important. We're all aware of the grandparents who look after the children [of] birth parents who have been misusing drugs or other substances, and it is increasingly important that children can get appropriate support from kinship carers."
Mr Ingram said that the omission of family carers was due to a level of "informality" that had previously existed in the foster system.
He added: "We need families to come forward and look after children as a first resort, and by improving the support that can be supplied we hope we can improve the supply of future carers. Most children find the family circle preferable when it comes to care."
However, Mr Ingram said the priority was to prevent children from being taken into care and greater efforts would be made in "early intervention".
Further consultation on amendments to the fostering rules, which include the removal of barriers which prevent same-sex couples fostering, is to continue until March next year.
A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said of the proposal: "The Church, under the Bishop's Conference, will examine the teaching aspect in relation to this and then give some sort of response to the consultation."
The Church previously fought against moves by the then Scottish Executive to allow adoption by same-sex couples, and is expected to take a similar stance on fostering.
Maggie Mellon, director of children and family services at Children 1ST, said: "Today's announcement is very welcome and we commend the administration for taking the lead on this issue. We look forward to seeing the results of this decision as the strategy is implemented in central and local government.
"Removing a child from his or her family is one of the highest-risk decisions a social worker will ever take."
CARING IN THE FAMILY
MARK Borthwick, 31, and his wife have taken on the care of his 11-year-old niece at their home in Port Glasgow.
"It was down to family circumstances," he explained. "When we were approached about taking her the immediate reply was to say 'Yes', then the reality of becoming the primary carer and the responsibilities kick in.
"She is happy to be with us because we're family. We have a daughter who is four and she worries she is being pushed to one side by all the attention given to her cousin.
"The support we receive from social services has been pretty good, but the new strategy and getting access to the training, respite care and information is a real plus."
The full article contains 642 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
