Kinship Care Week

That this House notes that Monday 3 October to Friday 7 October 2022 is Kinship Care Week; acknowledges the thousands of grandparents, aunts, uncles and other friends and family members who step up to support children in crisis whose parents are unable to care for them; recognises that becoming a kinship carer often involves huge personal sacrifices, with many carers giving up careers or pension savings to look after a child; notes that placing a child in kinship care is significantly cheaper than placing them in local authority care, yet delivers equal or better health, educational and employment outcomes; and calls on the Government to step up for kinship carers by implementing the proposals contained within the Kinship Care Bill, including the introduction of a statutory definition of kinship care, weekly allowances for kinship carers, paid time off work for kinship carers when a child starts living with them, and the extension of Pupil Premium Plus to all children in kinship care.