UNSUNG CARERS WIN PROTECTION

LIVERPOOL has become the first place in the country to create a charter supporting the “unsung heroes” who care for the children of relatives or friends.

So-called “kinship carers” take in the children of parents who are no longer able to cope for a variety of reasons, which might include drug and alcohol abuse, bereavement, imprisonment or illness

Kinship carers can be grandparents, aunts and uncles, neighbours and others and the support available to them from loca authorities and statutory services varies enormously, according to the charity Kinship Cllr Frazer Lake, Deputy Mayor of Liverpo cabinet member for children’s social care, said: “Kinship carers are very often our unsung heroes, not only because they care for children and young people, but because they help to keep family units together