Kinship care

Understanding the housing needs of kinship families

In collaboration with the Association for Fostering, Kinship & Adoption Scotland (AFKA), researchers Dr Autumn Roesch-Marsh and Dr Robin Sen from the University of Edinburgh have undertaken a knowledge exchange project analysing the housing issues affecting kinship families in Scotland. 

Kinship care is when a child lives full-time or most of the time with a relative or friend who is not their parent, and is the most common form of out-of-home care for looked after children in Scotland.

This project explored the consistent (albeit often anecdotal) evidence that issues of housing were affecting many kinship families in Scotland, and sought to build an evidence base to assist kinship families, practitioners, and policymakers to clarify the nature and extent of the problem, and begin to formulate potential solutions.

The research team first set out the context and wider research literature in relation to kinship care and housing need; conducted two surveys (one of kinship carers and another of kinship practitioners); hosted two roundtable events, an action orientated workshop, and a dissemination event that involved kinship carers, kinship practitioners, housing and homelessness practitioners, and academics in related fields. This formed the basis for their key findings and recommendations.

Read the report

Read the full report ‘Understanding the housing needs of kinship families: a knowledge exchange project’:

Report authors: Dr Robin Sen, Dr Andrew Burns, Dr Autumn Roesch-Marsh

Project Partners: AFKA; the Binks Hub; the University of Edinburgh

Funder: University of Edinburgh’s Knowledge and Impact Grant

Want to share your research via the Binks Hub?

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