Kinship care, care by grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings and close family friends, is the world's most common way children grow up when they cannot live with their parents. It keeps children connected to their family, community, culture and identity. Kinship care is the most common form of alternative care in the world, yet the least supported.
Over the years, Family for Every Child’s collective research and advocacy on kinship care has helped put kinship care and kinship caregivers firmly on the global agenda, strengthening recognition, awareness and support for families caring for children within their wider family networks. In 2026, to deepen our understanding of kinship care and strengthen our advocacy, Family for Every Child partnered with Lumos to map kinship care policies across 21 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. The research explored the following key questions:
- Is KC legally recognised and defined?
- Is KC prioritised as the first option?
- Is support available - and to informal carers?
- Are there formal registration and oversight systems?
- Is data collected on KC?
Our findings show that kinship care is widely recognised by governments, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into adequate support. 76% of the countries we surveyed recognise kinship care in law, but only 48% recognise customary or traditional forms. While 81% have a kin-first policy in principle, only 38% address the needs of disadvantaged children within it.
Informal kinship carers are left furthest behind. Across seven types of support, they receive help in just 28% of countries, compared with 60% for biological parents and 56% for foster parents. In 95% of countries, carers need formal legal status before they can make decisions for the children in their care. At the same time, 62% or more don’t have mechanisms to keep track of informal arrangements, and only 29% can confirm that their data distinguishes between formal and informal carers. That invisibility makes kinship care families more vulnerable as they can’t access the support they need.
That's why we're calling on governments to make five changes:
- Define all forms of kinship care in law
- Make a kin-first policy real for every child.
- Build a consistent support package for formal and informal kinship carers
- Stop making formal legal status the gatekeeper to basic support and protection
- Count all kinship carers in the national data.
None of this is out of reach. Rwanda recognises customary and traditional kinship care in national law. Colombia prioritises kinship care and closely considers the child's disadvantage when deciding where a child should live. South Africa makes its universal services available to kinship families, whether their arrangement is formal or informal.
Join the policy brief launch event on 06 October:
If you are interested in learning more about this project and how you can contribute to translating our recommendations into real outcomes, please join us on 6 October for the webinar 'Kinship Care: Recognised in Policy, Invisible in Practice', part of Global Kinship Care Week 2026 (5–11 October). We'll walk through the findings, the five recommendations and the stories behind them, and talk about what needs to happen next. Register here.
Learn more about Global Kinship Care Week and join the campaign
The third edition of Global Kinship Care Week 2026 will take place from 5 to 11 October. The campaign brings together 21 organisations as they call for better support for kinship care across 20 countries. We want governments to recognise kinship care as a key strategy for strengthening families and preventing family breakdown, and to provide adequate support for all kinds of kinship care arrangements.
Join us! The Participation Pack contains key information and assets to support Global Kinship Care Week 2026 locally. It includes the campaign's core messages, targets, and calls to action; our positioning and research; social media assets; printable materials; and templates.