Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children are in kinship care.

I am sorry, but the department does not collect complete information on the number of children in kinship care.

Data is collected on looked after children who are placed with an approved foster carer who is a relative, friend or other person connected with the child (locally known as ‘family and friends foster care’ or ‘kinship foster care’) and special guardianship orders (SGOs) made to carers other than former foster carers.

In the year to 31 March 2017, there were 8,830 looked-after children in a foster care with a relative, friend or other connected person. This information is available in table A2 of the Statistical First Release ‘Children looked after in England including adoption: 2016 to 2017’ at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoption-2016-to-2017.