Award Notice: Kinship Peer Support

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This is a Notice of Award for: Kinship Peer Support. The Department for Education are looking for a provider to facilitate peer to peer support groups for kinship carers in areas of most need across the country. Kinship carers play a vital role in caring for children who may otherwise have entered care. Many struggle emotionally, physically and financially due to the caring responsibilities they take on. The service aligns with the recommendations in the Independent Review of Children's Social Care Case for Change report, which was published in June 2021, calling for kinship care to be "prioritised and supported". Establishing a better infrastructure for peer support groups is one way of responding to this. Peer groups are a high impact way of supporting thousands of kinship carers, and research shows that emotional support from kinship carers in similar positions is the most important form of support needed after financial support. We want to maintain high-quality peer support across the country, to ensure provision is sustained and continues to be available to those who need it. Therefore, we are seeking a supplier to maintain and deliver the peer support groups which have been created as well as creating new groups in areas of demand.