A new Research in Practice briefing supports social care practitioners to build a strong start for kinship families.
Kinship care is when children remain with wider family networks if they cannot live with their parents. It can lead to better stability, identity and belonging. Recent reforms by the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 have placed greater emphasis on working in partnership with families and enabling family-led solutions at the earliest possible stage.
The new National Kinship Standards, set out in the updated government guidance for local authorities, provide a framework for how children and families should be supported. They emphasise child-centred, whole-family and needs-led practice, trusting relationships, inclusive support and responding to families’ changing circumstances.
The new briefing brings together research, practice knowledge and the experiences of kinship carers to support practitioners to put the National Kinship Standards into practice. It explores how practitioners can identify and assess potential carers in ways that keep the child at the centre, understand the wider family context and identify what support can set the kinship arrangement up for success.
Building strong starts for kinship families – assessment and early support
Good assessment is about more than deciding whether a family member or friend can care for a child. It is an opportunity to understand the child’s needs, the carer’s circumstances and the wider context, while identifying what support may help the arrangement work well. Timely information, preparation, independent advice and practical support can help carers feel informed and prepared for the realities of kinship care.
This briefing highlights how building in this support early helps carers understand what to expect, recognise where they may need help and feel more confident. It focuses on how practitioners can identify and assess potential carers in ways that keep the child at the centre, understand the wider family context and help set the arrangement up for success.
Through working alongside families to identify strengths, needs and sources of support, practitioners can lay the foundations for arrangements that are safe, stable and able to meet children’s needs.
View the briefing
Who is this briefing for?
The briefing is for social workers, support workers, managers, and others involved in supporting kinship families. It focuses on kinship care arrangements known to the local authority including kinship foster carers, special guardianship orders and child arrangements orders.
The briefing can be used alongside the government guidance and National Kinship Standards to support reflection, supervision, team learning and practice development. The case study and reflective questions help practitioners explore how the standards can be incorporated into day-to-day practice with children and families, reflect on their own approach to assessment and consider how they can strengthen their work with kinship families.
It can also be used alongside the Foundations Practice Guide for Kinship Care that provides actionable recommendations to help local leaders.
Look out for
A second briefing exploring what good ongoing support for families looks like will be released in the coming months. Together these resources support practitioners consider how they can support carers to sustain stability, continuity and a sense of belonging that kinship care can offer children and create a strong foundation for kinship families to thrive.
Kinship care: Strengthening assessment and support for families
Explore effective assessment and support for kinship carers, helping practitioners build on family strengths, identify and respond to support needs and promote safe, stable and lasting family care for children.
Practice Pointer: Supporting child development in early and middle years
This Practice Pointer session will explore resources to support child development in early and middle years.
Reunification: Learning from Evidence, Practice and Lived Experience
This interactive webinar will explore the key principles and recommendations from a new Reunification Practice Guide developed by Foundations.