Almost three-quarters of carers for friends and family –dubbed ‘kinship carers' – rate council support as ‘poor' or ‘very poor', according to new research.

Published by Family Rights Group (FRG) last week, the research – including a survey of around 490 carers for more than 750 children – uncovered ‘a major lack of support' from councils which appear ‘reluctant to treat kinship arrangements as statutory foster placements'.