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Status
Received: on time
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Income
£958.3K
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Spending
£871.7K
Public benefits
Most of our work falls within the charitable purpose: “The advancement of support to kinship children and their caregivers”, in that we provide advice, peer support and a range of activities aimed at helping children and young people in kinship care come to terms with their early life experiences. The direct benefit of what we do is that children
in kinship care engage personally with our services so that there is a direct improvement in their overall emotional and social wellbeing resulting, amongst other things in increased confidence, self-esteem and positive relationships with their caregivers. This direct benefit is evidenced by the evaluation work we carry out on each child and young person participating in projects and activities. The indirect benefit of our work is a reduction in number of children entering the public care system and supporting children to live safely and securely within their own families, which is of a general benefit to the wider community. This is evidenced by the fact that we have worked with over 100 children in 7 months with all children reporting an improvement in their emotional or social wellbeing. The wider benefit to the community at large is that keeping children out of the public care system and within their extended family promotes community development and assists children on the edge of care to live safely within their own kinship networks. Our work also includes “The prevention and relief of poverty”, in that we provide a free telephone helpline service to grandparents raising their grandchildren and other kinship carers living in the community. The direct benefit of what we do is that kinship carers by engaging directly with the service receive advice, information and assistance on their financial and legal entitlements so can provide financially for the children in their care and keep themselves and the children in their care out of poverty. This direct benefit is evidenced by the evaluation work we carry out on each carer contacting us for advice and support. The indirect benefit is a reduction in the level of poverty experienced by children in kinship care and supporting kinship carers to provide financially for the children they are caring for, which is of a benefit to society in general. This is evidenced by the fact that we have secured over £100,000 in unclaimed social security benefit for kinship carers in the past 9 months, with all kinship carers reporting improved financial well being and the ability to afford basic necessities. The wider benefit to the community at large is that reducing the level of poverty in kinship care arrangements enables children to live within their own families and communities and reduces the level of financial hardship children in kinship care experience on a day to day basis. In meeting and achieving our charitable objects, no harm and no risk of harm will arise when helping and supporting kinship carers and their children and meeting the needs of the general public. Kinship Care NI will not gain any private benefit when fulfilling our charitable objects and will work to ensure best practice and full compliance with the standards and regulations set down by the Charity Commission of Northern Ireland.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
We provide specialist support, including advice and information to children and young people in kinship care as well as peer support and drop in services. We run group activities for the children and carers so they can have some leisure time and get to know others with similar life experiences. We also provide a freephone telephone helpline as well
as training for kinship carers and their children. We use the ‘Outcome Stars’ evaluation system and the New Philanthropy Capital wellbeing measures to monitor the impact of our work on the happiness and overall wellbeing of children and young people in kinship care with statistics and a report produced on a regular basis. Based upon our work with children and young people in kinship care, children show overall a statistically significant improvement in their social and emotional wellbeing as a result of our work. We use the ‘Outcome Stars’ evaluation system to monitor the financial circumstances of kinship carers and how our interventions are assisting kinship carers access their rightful entitlement to financial support with statistics and a report produced on a regular basis. Based upon our work with kinship carers, carers show an overall statistical improvement in the financial wellbeing.
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The prevention or relief of poverty
- The advancement of education
- The advancement of citizenship or community development
- The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
Who the charity helps
- Carers
- Children (5-13 year olds)
- Older people
- Preschool (0-5 year olds)
- Unemployed/low income
- Volunteers
- Youth (14-25 year olds)
How the charity works
- Advice/advocacy/information
- Community development
- Community enterprise
- Counselling/support
- Cross-border/cross-community
- Education/training
- Grant making
- Relief of poverty
- Volunteer development
- Youth development
