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ABSTRACT
When children are unable to live with their birth parents it is typically their extended family, rather than the state, which steps in to take care of them, an arrangement commonly known as kinship care. Grandparents tend to form the largest single group of such carers. This paper provides an overview of what is known about these arrangements in the UK, examining their prevalence, the profile of carers and children, the outcomes for children and the impact on carers. Since UK research does not usually focus on grandparents as a distinct group of kinship carers, it will draw on both the generic UK literature on kinship care and the more extensive international research on grandparents bringing up grandchildren.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes on contributor
Joan Hunt is a retired socio-legal researcher who is currently an Honorary Professor at Cardiff University where she continue to pursue her long-standing interest in kinship care. She has undertaken a number of empirical studies in this area and has also produced several overviews of kinship care research and materials for social work practitioners.