As part of Kinship Care Week 2022 Lorna Stabler, a Researcher and PhD student at Cardiff University, writes about being a sibling carer and the important research she is undertaking into kinship carers who care for their brothers and sisters.

Most people know that families are not always two parents bringing up their children, and that, for lots of reasons, sometimes children are brought up by someone who isn’t their mother or father. What is less commonly known is that in some of these families, it is an older sister or brother who is the main carer for their younger brothers or sisters. In fact, one study found that in Scotland in 2011, 8% children living in kinship care were growing up in a household headed by their sibling. But despite this being the experience for a lot of families, very little is known about what it is like to be a carer for a sibling, or being brought up by your older sister or brother.

Before becoming a researcher, I was a kinship carer for my younger brother.  When I started working in research, I realised there wasn’t really much out there about families like mine. Most of the research about ‘kinship’ families focused on the experiences of grandparents. While that is very important, I felt like the stories of siblings would be different to those of grandparents and their grandchildren. I knew from my own experience that my shared background and childhood, closeness in age, and my life stage were all challenges when caring for my brother, but they were strengths too that gave me a unique insight and abilities. I also knew that I often needed help, and it was not always available.

That is why my PhD research – “What are siblings’ lived experiences of providing kinship care? Identifying pathways to improving support for sibling-headed families” – is focused on the experiences of sibling carers.

The research

As part of my research I am interviewing people over 18 who live in the UK and have experience of being the main carer for their brother or sister. I am also interviewing young people who are being cared for by an older sibling, and care experienced people of any age who spent time being cared for by their sibling. Siblings interested in being interviewed can find out more here.

I am including practitioners of all types in my PhD research through a survey, interviews and focus groups. The survey asks for examples of practice with sibling-headed kinship families, and ideas around what is needed to help these families to thrive. Practitioners don’t need to have explicitly worked with siblings who are kinship carers – experience of working with any kinship carers will be very relevant. The survey can be accessed here.

The story so far

Many of the conversations so far have raised important issues and considerations. Sibling carers and young people raised by their older brother or sister have rarely, if ever, met another person who had a similar experience, or had the chance to tell their story. When I’ve talked to sibling carers, throughout their stories I get sparks of recognition from my own experience.

Sibling carers have come to kinship care through many different routes, but often have faced similar hurdles when looking for help and recognition. Many of the carers talked about not fitting into the right categories for support and being turned away when in need. Often a social worker had been involved at some point in their lives, but this hadn’t always led to them getting support when they needed it. Areas of need have included – financial help, support for getting back into education, bereavement counselling and trauma informed services that work with carers and younger siblings, appropriate advice and legal services – and universally more recognition by social services, schools, medical services, peers and society more broadly of the roles that they are performing. 

Practitioners have highlighted the need to advocate for siblings as potential carers because they are often not considered. Some of the reasons given included concerns that siblings may not be able to separate their own experiences from those of their younger brother or sister, that they may not have had the experience of being a parent or being parenting sufficiently, or that they would struggle to manage boundaries and appropriate contact arrangements with parents. This was echoed by some sibling carers who highlighted the importance of having a practitioner who believed in them and supported them to become a kinship carer. 

Despite some of the challenges faced by sibling kinship carers, all the carers interviewed so far did not regret the role they had taken on. While the need for more appropriate support and recognition was raised consistently, so was the love and care they felt for their siblings.

So far, Scotland is the only part of the UK where there is an organisation such as Stand up for Siblings that has dedicated information specifically for siblings, something carers and young people are asking for.  

The stories and practice examples generated in this research will hopefully help to increase recognition, and influence the way that services are designed to be suitable for sibling-headed families.

Kinship care week will run from the 14th to 18th March 2022. Information can be found on this website – Kinship Care Week 2022 | Kinship.scot

If you are a kinship carer and need support please call the Kinship Care Helpline on 0808 800 0006.

Stand Up For Siblings is proud to support Kinship Care Week 2022. The annual week-long event will take place from 14-18 March 2022. The theme for this year is positive relationships. 

A virtual event is being held on Wednesday 16 March from 9.45am-1pm. The Kinship Care Conference – Promoting Positive Relationships in Kinship care is being organised by Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland. Speakers at the event include Richard Rose and Sally Wassell. You can find out more about the event here.

Clan Childlaw’s new Legal Policy Manager Katy Nisbet reflects on why the recent BBC documentary ‘Split Up In Care – Life Without Siblings’ resonated so deeply with her as she settles into her new role. You can read her blog on the Clan Childlaw website.

Stand Up For Siblings partner SCRA has embarked on a new piece of research which will explore the impact of virtual Hearings during the COVID-19 pandemic on participation, rights and decision making.

The research includes an online survey aimed at foster carers and kinships carers.

The survey is open for six weeks, closing on Sunday 20 March. The survey will measure foster and kinship carers views about participating in virtual Hearings. It will also ask them about the perceived impacts of virtual Hearings on the children in their care and explore barriers to participation such as digital exclusion. Interviews with foster and kinship carers may also be undertaken.

Dr Catherine Nixon from SCRA who is leading the research explained: “The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 significantly restricted the delivery of Children’s Hearings in Scotland. Although the rapid development and subsequent refinement of virtual Hearings has allowed SCRA to continue to meet the needs of children, little is known about the long-term acceptability of virtual Hearings to children, families and their caregivers.

“The Keeping The Promise 2021-2024 strategy developed by SCRA commits to undertaking research in order to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to use the knowledge gathered to inform our improvement journey. Understanding how virtual and hybrid Hearings have impacted upon the participation and rights of children and families, as well as the decision making process, is part of that commitment.”

The research, which has been developed in consultation with young people from Our Hearings, Our Voice includes a number of other strands:

• Interviews and focus groups will be conducted with parents, residential carers and secure care staff about their views of participating in virtual Hearings. These interviews will aim to understand how attending Hearings virtually differs from the experience of face-to-face participation. They will also explore perceptions about the impact of virtual Hearings on decision making, rights and participation.

• Participatory research will be undertaken with children and young people to explore their views on Virtual Hearings. This research will explore the same issues that will be explored with parents and carers, but will adopt a child-centred and child-led approach to data collection. Our Hearings, Our Voice Board Members will act as co-researchers in this element of the study.

• Case File Analysis using data routinely being collected by SCRA in relation to Children’s Hearings will be undertaken to explore the inclusion of the child’s voice within Hearings held during the pandemic. Data on the decision making process will also be recorded, including the effect of Hearing type on rates of continuations, deferrals, appeals and requests for early reviews of decisions. Face-to-face Hearings will be compared with virtual Hearings conducted with and without RAVHI.

The intention is to publish the findings from each research element as soon as they become available as the findings will be used to inform future refinements of virtual Hearings. All findings should be available in early 2023 on SCRA’s website.

Stand Up For Siblings is proud to support The Promise Scotland mark the second anniversary of the publication of the Independent Care Review (ICR) on Saturday 5 February 2022.

We have worked with the ICR and The Promise to continue to promote the voices of children and young people with regard to maintaining relationships between brothers and sisters.

We contributed to the changes in legislation and celebrated the new duties within the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 and we continue to actively raise awareness and promote good practice in Scotland. 

STAR, Siblings Reunited features in a new documentary being aired by the BBC. The Scottish charity which helps separated siblings, was asked to star in the programme ‘Split up in care’. The documentary features BBC reporter Ashley John-Baptiste who grew up in care. Ashley spoke to Karen Morrison from STAR for the programme. You can watch the programme on the BBC iPlayer and you can also read an interview with John on the BBC website.