Kinship care in the UK: using census data to estimate the extent of formal and informal care by relatives Julie Selwyn and Shailen Nandy School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK ABSTRACT Until recently, little was known about kinship care in the UK. Research has begun to illuminate the circumstances which lead to children being cared for by relatives, and the stresses and strains experienced by carers. However, most UK research has only consid- ered ‘looked-after’ children placed with formal approved kinship foster carers, although this group forms the smallest proportion of children in kinship arrangements. In this paper, we use microdata from the 2001 UK Population Census to examine the characteristics of kinship carers and children, and demonstrate that most children in kinship care are growing up in informal unregulated arrangements. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. Correspondence: Julie Selwyn, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, 8 Priory Road, Bristol BS8 1TZ, UK E-mail j.selwyn@bristol.ac.uk Keywords: family policy, family support, kinship care, poverty Accepted for publication: March 2012 INTRODUCTION There is a long history in the UK of children being brought up by relatives or friends. Although the knowledge base in the UK on formal kinship care has recently improved (Broad et al. 2001; Aldgate & McIntosh 2006; Farmer & Moyers 2008; Hunt et al. 2008), there is little information about children in informal kinship care. In this paper, we draw attention to the extent of informal kinship care in the UK, the lack of knowledge about this group of carers, the risks associated with arrangements remaining unregulated and the difficulties social workers face in implement- ing statutory regulations on kinship care. Definitions of kinship care Most countries distinguish between formal and infor- mal kinship care, but there is a lack of an agreed definition. Definitions of kinship care generally acknowledge that the child is in the full-time care of someone other than a parent. However, just who is defined as ‘kin’ differs between (and sometimes within) countries, and, therefore, estimates of the numbers of kinship carers will depend on how ‘kin’ are defined, as will any description of their characteristics. Sometimes, the word ‘kin’ is used interchangeably with relative, but it can also include a wide variety of people with connections to the child. In the USA, for example, kin are defined in about half the states as only those related to the child by blood, marriage or adoption. Other US states include friends, neigh- bours, godparents and members of tribes or clans in their definition of kin, and some states have no defi- nition at all (Leos-Urbel et al. 2000). In England, kinship care is defined in the regula- tions as: ‘a relative, friend or other person with a prior connection with somebody else’s child who is caring for that child full time’ (Department for Education 2011, p. 7). The emphasis in this definition is on children having an established relationship with their carer and this connection is seen as one of the strengths of kinship care (Cuddeback 2004). However, in some cases, children are placed with or move to live with relatives where there is no prior relationship, and who are effectively strangers to them (Selwyn et al. 2010). To add to the complexity, the term ‘relative’ is not as straightforward as it might appear. In the UK, relatives are defined in law (Children Act 1989; Foster Children (Scotland) Act 1984; Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995) as stepparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings (full, half or by marriage or civil partnership). Close relatives are under no obligation to notify authorities of any arrangements made privately between the parent and carer. Carers are not assessed doi:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2012.00879.x 44 Child and Family Social Work 2014, 19, pp 44–54 © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd