Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has paid tribute to Northern Ireland’s kinship foster carers as the region marks its first-ever Kinship Care Celebration Week. Running from 20 to 26 April 2026, the initiative recognises the relatives and family friends who step in when children cannot live with their parents. Latest figures show kinship carers now comprise the majority of the fostering workforce, with 1,663 out of 2,868 registered foster carers (58%) falling into this category as of March 2025.
A “Fundamental Cornerstone” of the Care System
Kinship care involves Health & Social Care Trusts placing children with relatives or close family friends when parents cannot provide care. This arrangement maintains their connections to existing family networks, schools, and communities during periods of significant trauma.
Speaking at Belfast Trust’s Kinship Foster Care offices, Minister Nesbitt met with social work staff and carers including Thomas Spence, who has provided kinship care in the Belfast area for the past two years. The Minister emphasised the unique value of these placements:
“Kinship care is a specialised type of care for a child which has unique strengths. It is a fundamental cornerstone of the children’s care system in Northern Ireland. Kinship foster carers open their homes and their lives to children who need safety, stability, and security. You are the relatives, the grandparents, the older siblings, the aunts and uncles, and the close family friends who step up and make a real difference to so many young people in our community. This week we want to say a huge thank you for all that you do. You embody the core values of compassion and commitment.”
Carers Speak Out
Thomas Spence, who cares for a relative, welcomed the recognition after what he described as a challenging but rewarding experience:
“I have had tremendous support from the Kinship care team and this week is so important as it gives kinship carers due recognition. Everybody’s circumstances are different and this week has been an opportunity to get our voices across and to be heard.”
Eimear Hanna, Belfast Trust Head of Service for Adoption and Fostering Services, noted that the Belfast area has the highest concentration of kinship carers in Northern Ireland. She stressed the vital role these families play in preventing children from entering unfamiliar institutional care:
“We are so delighted to be celebrating our first ever Kinship Care week in Northern Ireland. As the Belfast Area has the highest number of Kinship carers across the region, this is a particularly important celebration for us. Due to families stepping up in challenging times we are able to keep our children close to their family, schools, friends, clubs and everything that is important to them Things that most of us are lucky enough to take for granted. We want to extend our gratitude and thanks for everything they do to support our children.”
Record Pressures on the System
The celebration comes amid unprecedented strain on children’s social care. Official statistics published in October 2025 revealed that 4,188 children were in care as of 31 March 2025—the highest number since records began in 1995. A further 22,243 children were known to social services as “in need,” while 2,283 were on the Child Protection Register, with neglect and physical abuse accounting for 84% of cases.
Research indicates that Northern Ireland relies more heavily on kinship care than many other UK jurisdictions. However, this model faces significant challenges:
- Financial disparities: Kinship carers historically receive fewer financial allowances than non-kin foster carers, with some research suggesting a third of kinship foster carers do not receive full fostering allowances.
- Support gaps: Only 43% of foster carers in Northern Ireland report receiving all the information they need to care for matched children, according to recent sector surveys.
- Recruitment crisis: While kinship carer numbers rose 11% in 2023/24, non-kinship foster carer numbers dropped by 29%, creating an estimated shortfall of 300 non-kinship foster families needed to meet demand.
- Unplanned endings: Two-thirds (66%) of foster carers who experienced a child moving on in the past 24 months said this included an unplanned ending, up from 50% in 2021.
The Department of Health has yet to fully implement recommendations from Professor Ray Jones’s independent review of children’s services, published in June 2023, which called for a regional arms-length body for children’s social care and improved staff retention measures.
Unfinished Business
While the Celebration Week shines a welcome spotlight on kinship carers, questions remain about whether policy changes will match the rhetoric of gratitude. Kinship carers often step in during crises involving parental substance misuse, domestic abuse, or mental health difficulties, yet they frequently report feeling isolated and inadequately supported compared to traditional foster carers.
The concentration of kinship care in deprived areas—almost a third of kinship households are located in Northern Ireland’s most deprived neighbourhoods—raises additional concerns about whether these families receive adequate practical and emotional support to manage often complex trauma-related behaviours in the children they care for.
Questions for Policymakers
- How will the Department address the persistent financial gap between allowances for kinship carers and non-kin foster carers, particularly given the cost-of-living pressures facing families in deprived areas?
- What concrete timeline exists for implementing the Ray Jones review recommendations, now nearly three years old?
- Given that Belfast Trust has the highest rate of looked-after children in Northern Ireland (152.5 per 10,000 child population), will additional specific resources be allocated to support its kinship care infrastructure?
- How will the Department ensure kinship carers receive parity in training, respite care, and mental health support compared to traditional foster carers?
- With 176 more children entering care than leaving it during 2024/25, what strategies are in place to prevent the system from reaching capacity?
The Kinship Care Celebration Week events continue across all five Health & Social Care Trusts until 26 April, offering information sessions and family activities. For those interested in fostering, including kinship arrangements, further details are available through HSC NI Foster Care.