Organised by Kinship Carers UK180,000 children are being raised by family members or friends, called Kinship Carers. We are raising funds to create the first official ID card & App to help carers verify their identity so that children receive urgent care immediately.
Over 180,000 children are being raised by family or friends of families because their birth parents cannot look after them. Therefore, they are being cared for by Kinship Carers. An ever-increasing number of children are now in Kinship Care. It’s apparent that the system is failing these children and their dedicated Carers because they often struggle to prove to Hospitals, Schools, Doctors, and Dentists that they have Parental Responsibility (PR).
It is frustrating for Carers who struggle to register a child in non-emergency situations because they have forgotten their paperwork, have no proof of their PR, or professionals do not think a piece of paper is sufficient evidence. It becomes an even bigger issue in an emergency. Below are some examples of children requiring emergency treatment and being withheld treatment until the Kinship Carer can provide the relevant paperwork to prove their PR. Sometimes, this can take hours, with hospital receptionists calling in Social Services and sometimes having to wait overnight for a response.
A kinship two-year-old child struggling to breathe was taken to A&E. First question from the receptionist. Who are you, and what is your relationship to this child? Are Social Services involved? The most terrifying answer was the hospital could not treat him without the consent of someone with PR. The hospital called Social Services, and they did not have a record of the child. Hours later, the child was eventually treated after they had established that the Kinship Carer had Parental Responsibility (PR).
A kinship toddler with a severe facial injury requiring plastic surgery was withheld treatment, as the hospital would not treat the child until proof of the legal order was produced. The carer showed an email of the special guardianship order. However, this was not enough, and Social Services were called to verify the child was in Kinship Care as the carer could not leave the traumatised child. It took two hours for the call to be returned. Finally, the child was treated after losing a lot of blood. However, the injury was so serious that the hospital referred them to a plastic surgery specialist unit an hour away. On arrival, the kinship carer faced the same ordeal; she had to call Social Services again to verify her identity, and the return call took seven and a half hours. Eventually, hours later, the child went into surgery.
A kinship child with a severe break in her arm was taken to A&E by her Kinship Carer; surgery was required, and the anaesthetist refused to administer the anaesthetic without seeing the proof of PR, in this case, a piece of paper being the legal document provided by the court. The child was put on a morphine pump. With paperwork and photo identification in hand, the Kinship Carer had to wait for the anaesthetist to return from his surgery list. Once presented, it was accepted; the long wait after 24 hours was over, and the child had surgery to reset the bones.
These are just a few examples of children being denied treatment. Many more examples and statements from Kinship Carers who have been in similar situations can be provided.
Providing Kinship Carers with a nationally recognised ID will significantly reduce waiting times for hospital treatments, allowing urgent medical treatment for these children. The Kinship ID cards and App will give recognition and support to Carers with PR, such as Special Guardians, Connected Foster Carers, Child Arrangement Orders, and Private Foster Carers. By keeping a safe and secure national database of the carers and the children they care for, we can ensure that the necessary data is available, most importantly for medical establishments, educational establishments, and passport control when needed.
Now is the time to take decisive action and create a national Kinship Carers ID Card database to provide much needed support to Carers and their children. To make this happen, we are asking for donations to engage with a recognised institution to take this project to the next level. To achieve this, we need to reach our target. Given the nature of the project required to store the data safely and the necessary level of security to manage GDPR securely, it does not come cheaply, so our overall target is £75,000. We understand that raising these funds is challenging. However, we know that the monetary challenge is outweighed by the children left in A&E waiting for hours whilst in pain, bleeding or having difficulty breathing.
This single unique identifier will better support Kinship children and their Kinship Carers, and it will give these children the same rights as children taken into A&E by their birth parents.
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