Kinship Care Week 2026: Celebrating Kinship Families in Merthyr Tydfil

Kinship Care Week (October 5-9) is a national week of awareness, recognition, and a celebration of kinship families. It’s a time to shine a light on the vital role of kinship carers who step in to help raise a child of a family member or a friend, providing over 141,000 children across England and Wales with loving and stable homes. 

In Merthyr Tydfil, we are proud to recognise the incredible contribution of kinship carers in our communities. These families including grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and family friends step up in extraordinary ways to keep children connected to their loved ones, roots and communities. This also includes our dedicated foster carers, who provide vital support for vulnerable children every day.

Cllr Louise Minett-Vokes, Cabinet Member for Social Services commented: "These incredible families are the backbone of our community. They don't just provide a home, they provide continuity, love and a sense of belonging during challenging times. Each kinship carer is a hero who ensures children remain connected to their roots and supported through life's most difficult moments."

Kinship Care Week provides us with the opportunity to raise awareness of the unique, incredible kinship families, who are often navigate difficult times, all while ensuring their child feels safe and loved.  

There are six main types of kinship care; private family arrangements, fostering, ‘lives with’ child arrangements orders or residence orders, special guardianship, kinship foster care (under a care order or voluntary arrangement) and adoption.

Kinship Care Week reminds us that there is a powerful community of kinship carers, who share their experiences to help others feel less isolated and more empowered.   

Kinship is the leading kinship care charity in England and Wales and they originally launched Kinship Care Week in 2018. They support, advise and inform kinship carers, friends or family who step up to raise a child when their parents can’t, connecting them so they feel empowered.  Kinship offers free workshops, support and community to help kinship carers navigate challenges with confidence.

Get involved in Kinship Care Week here: kinship.org.uk/kinship-care-week