Kinship Care

Overview

East Midlands RIIA is working with local authorities across the region to strengthen practice and support professionals working with kinship families.

Through East Midlands Together for Kinship, we are creating opportunities for colleagues to learn together, share effective practice and build stronger connections across local authority kinship services. Our regional programme brings together professional development, collaborative learning and opportunities to hear directly from people with lived experience of kinship care.

The aim is to support a confident, knowledgeable and connected workforce, helping professionals provide high-quality, relationship-based support to kinship carers, children and families across the East Midlands.

Working Together Across the East Midlands

Regional collaboration is at the heart of this work. By bringing kinship professionals together across local authority boundaries, we aim to:

• strengthen professional knowledge and confidence;
• share learning, resources and effective approaches;
• support consistent, high-quality practice across the region;
• create stronger connections between kinship teams;
• learn from the experiences of kinship carers, children and families; and
• identify opportunities to improve the support available to kinship families.

Our ambition is to build a strong regional community of professionals who can continue to learn from one another and work together to improve outcomes for children and families in kinship care.

East Midlands Together for Kinship Conference 2026

The East Midlands Together for Kinship Conference will bring together kinship professionals from across East Midlands local authorities for a day of learning, discussion, collaboration and reflection.

The conference will provide an opportunity to hear from national and regional leaders, learn from the lived experiences of kinship families and explore new approaches to practice.

Speakers include:

The programme will include keynote presentations, a lived experience panel, workshops, networking and reflective discussion.

East Midlands Together for Kinship Training Programme

Our regional training programme provides a series of focused online sessions for professionals in local authority settings working with kinship families. This programme is delivered by our commissioned partner, Kinship care charity.

The programme explores key areas of practice and provides opportunities for colleagues from across the East Midlands to develop their knowledge, reflect on practice and learn alongside one another.

Topics include: