Melanie backs new legislation to keep brothers and sisters connected in care

Melanie Onn, MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes and Chair of the APPG on Kinship Care, has welcomed new legislation that will require local authorities to prioritise and support contact between siblings in care.

Children in care will be better supported to build and maintain relationships with their brothers and sisters under new measures brought forward in law by the government, making life better for vulnerable children and ensuring they have the opportunity to get on in life.

All local authorities in England and Wales will be required to promote and facilitate contact for children in care who are separated from their siblings. This change puts sibling contact on an equal footing with parental contact —recognising the vital role these relationships play in providing stability, continuity and emotional support.

Currently, sibling relationships are not prioritised as much as parent relationships for children in care by local authorities. Many care-experienced people have talked about the difficulties of losing contact with siblings as a result of being placed in care, and the long term impact this can have.

The new legislation will ensure that local authorities will do all they can to provide sibling contact, even if, for instance, they are living a long way away from each other. This includes half and step siblings.

It will apply unless it is not in children’s best interests, such as in cases of violence or abuse or where social workers have other concerns about wellbeing.

Responding to the announcement, Melanie Onn MP said:

“Sibling relationships are often the longest and most important relationships in a child’s life. For too many children in care, those bonds have been broken at the very moment they need them most.

I have heard directly from care experienced young people about the lasting impact of being separated from their brothers and sisters. These relationships provide stability, identity and a sense of belonging during some of the most difficult periods in a child’s life.

As Chair of the APPG on Kinship Care, I have been working with colleagues and campaigners to push for greater recognition of the importance of family relationships in the care system. I am therefore very pleased to see the Government take this important step forward.

This change will help ensure that sibling relationships are properly recognised and protected, and that local authorities do all they can to keep brothers and sisters connected, even when they cannot live together.

These reforms form part of the Government’s wider work to improve children’s social care, including increasing foster placements and supporting more children to stay close to their families and communities.

There is more to do, but this is a significant and long overdue step towards a care system that truly puts children first.”

The amendment was welcomed in the House of Lords and is expected to return to the House of Commons for further debate after Easter.