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Social Work vocabulary · Children, Families and Care

Kinship care

Meaning in social work, with examples

nounCommon term

In social work, kinship care means: Care of a child by grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings or close family friends when the parents cannot look after them.

In Turkish: akraba bakımı, akraba yanında bakım, akraba koruyucu aile

How it is used

It can be informal, arranged within the family, or formal, with the relatives approved as kinship foster carers. Many services look at kinship options first because the child keeps family and cultural ties; 'family and friends care' is a UK synonym.

Example sentences

  1. After the assessment, the baby went to live with her grandmother under a kinship care arrangement.

  2. Kinship carers often need financial help as well as emotional support.

Common collocations

  • kinship care arrangement
  • kinship carer
  • formal kinship care
  • informal kinship care
  • foster careA form of care in which a child who cannot live with their own parents lives, for a short or long time, with another approved family.
  • placementThe home or setting where a child in care or an adult needing care is placed to live; also a period of supervised practice for social work students.
  • looked-after childA child who is cared for by a local authority, for example in foster care or a children's home, either under a court order or with the parents' agreement.
  • family supportServices that help families cope with difficulties and bring up their children well, such as parenting groups, practical help and family support workers.

More terms: Children, Families and Care

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