Keep us together

For children in care, their relationship with their siblings is important. For children in care who have faced trauma and abuse, sometimes these brothers and sisters have been the only loving family relationship they have known. Keeping up these bonds helps with the ‘protect effect’ of being part of a family.

The ‘protect effect’ is made up of four strands:

• emotional connection; love and joy: these relationships are often the most loving and the source of greatest happiness in their lives
• shared experiences: they’ve shared their lives with each other up to and throughout their care experience. Having a sibling by their side can make the care experience less frightening and more manageable
• mutual support: often siblings provide practical and emotional care for one another
• life-long bonds: enduring nature of their relationships with unconditional love

The things they faced together means their bond are particularly strong. As one young person said: ‘You don’t even need to speak. You just know. When it comes to Mum, or certain situations, there’s something where you comfort each other’  - Male, care leaver

Separated siblings

According to research, it is estimated that 37 per cent of children with a sibling are separated from them when placed in care. That’s around 20,000 children. This percentage rises steeply for older children, those with a disability or with issues with their behaviour. The main reason why children are separated from their siblings is because there aren’t enough of the right placements available to them. We want to keep siblings together where we can but struggle to find places that allow us to.

We know all siblings are important to each other. But for children in care, they can play a more important role. They are familiar as home during a frightening and destabilising time.