Kinship Care helps to create stability and continuity in a child’s life.
Kinship Care Ireland works with and on behalf of families, to create a better understanding of kinship care and ensure that the specific needs of carers, children and young people are acknowledged and addressed
“As part of the ongoing Kinship Care policy work underway by the Department of Children Disability & Equality, we are pleased to inform you that the survey for “parents who have experience with their child(ren) being in an informal kinship care arrangement” is now live on the gov.ie website and it will remain open until 26th September 2025.
The Department of Children Disability & Equality are very eager to hear from this important group of parents.”
To: Cross-Department government response
Join our call for support of Kinship Care in Ireland
When parents cannot care for their children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, or close family friends often step up. This is kinship care – a lifeline that gives children love, stability, and belonging, while keeping them connected to family and out of State care.
In Ireland, up to 12,000 children are raised in kinship care every year. Yet most of these carers are left without the recognition or support they deserve and need. Instead, they face financial strain, legal barriers, housing insecurity, and gaps in vital health and education services.
Fewer than 1 in 4 children in kinship care receive a financial allowance, leaving many families pushed into poverty.
Unlike children in foster care, children in kinship care are denied the necessary package of supports- foster allowance, aftercare services, medical cards, therapeutic support, carer training- that can make the difference between struggle and stability.
What is Kinship Care?
Kinship care is the full-time parenting of children by grandparents, older siblings, aunts and uncles, other relatives, or close friends of the family when their parents are no longer able to look after them.
It occurs for many reasons, for example, the death of a parent, parental substance misuse, abandonment, illness, or imprisonment.
It can be temporary or permanent arrangement and can also be on a formal or informal basis.
Are you raising a child for a relative or friend?
Are you a grandparent, aunt, uncle, older brother, or sister, relative or family friend raising a child who is unable to live with their parents?
If so, you are a Kinship Carer.
News & Events
International Kinship Care Week (October 6th–10th)
This October 6th-10th, we will proudly celebrate Ireland’s second-ever Kinship Care Week. On behalf of
Join our call for support of Kinship Care in Ireland
This International Kinship Care Week (October 6th–10th), Ireland joins a global campaign to champion families who
The survey for “parents who have experience with their child(ren) being in an informal kinship care arrangement” is now live
“As part of the ongoing Kinship Care policy work underway by the Department of Children
Kinship families need to be valued
We need to fully recognise ‘kinship care’ within Ireland, says Kinship Care Ireland Co-ordinator LAURA
Opinion: ‘We knew we would parent our grandson, we had no choice, but we also had no support’
https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/kinship-care-6244007-Dec2023/ One Kinship Carer says there are about 8,000 children in Ireland living with relatives
Launch of the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use
Download the Report of the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use Press Release ‘AN IRISH MODEL