Our Kinship Care solicitor, Helen Moody reflects on the importance of kinship care and the positive outcomes that it can often achieve.

With the Paris 2024 Olympics set to commence today Friday 26th July, I sat down last night to watch the Simone Biles documentary which follows her journey from her departure at the Toyko Olympics in 2021 to her highly anticipated return to the upcoming games.

In the documentary, Simone talks openly about how she and her 3 siblings were placed in foster care when she was 3 years old due to their mother’s drug and alcohol issues. At the age of 6, she was then placed with and adopted by her maternal grandparents Ronald and Nellie in Texas, USA.

Simone has previously admitted in an interview that “Having my parents and that support made me who I am today”.

The importance of Kinship Care

Kinship carers are arguably some of the most important carers for children who might otherwise have poor outcomes. Kinship care spans across the world and is not just common in the UK.

Kinship, formally Grandparents Plus, published a report in 2017 about the outcomes and experiences of adolescents brought up in Kinship placements which are often much better than the outcomes for children in mainstream foster placements due to the familiar links that they are able to preserve.

It appears that this is true for Simone Biles given all that she has gone on to achieve in gymnastics, having grown up with her grandparents.  Simone is a testament to the kinship carers who raised her in a loving, caring and supportive environment.

Helen Moody – Partner & Solicitor