GRANDPARENTS Plus has warned that kinship carers, family and friends who are raising 200,000 children in the UK because their parents cannot look after them, are being left without the support and advice they need.

The stark warning comes as the charity released the results of its annual survey of kinship carers to coincide with Kinship Care Week (held from October 5-11).

The survey found that a huge majority of kinship carers (82 per cent) feel they lack the support and information they need from local authorities, with many carers raising children who have suffered trauma and 30 per cent having additional needs.

The survey also revealed that 70 per cent of respondents found parenting as a kinship carer during the Covid-19 pandemic difficult or very difficult, with half saying their children had also struggled.

Previous worries have been exacerbated by the pandemic, with kinship carers particularly concerned about money (31 per cent), feeling alone (32 per cent), limited resources and space (23 per cent) and children’s behaviour (26 per cent). A total of 24 per cent were worried they would be unable to cope with a second lockdown.

The lack of local authority support and information has meant that kinship carers are turning to family (64 per cent), friends (50 per cent) schools (33 per cent) and charities, such as Grandparents Plus (30 per cent), for help and advice.