Relatives 'filling in for parents'

Oct 12 2009

Thousands of children in Scotland could be under the care of other relatives because their parents cannot cope, a charity has said.

The Aberlour Child Care Trust is launching a service in Dundee for the increasing number of "kinship carers" - family members who have to bring up a child because the parents have problems with drugs or alcohol - claiming as many as 10,000 children could be involved.

Judith Morkis from the children's charity, which provides help to more than 6,000 of Scotland's most vulnerable children, young people and their families each year, said: "This service will be a vital lifeline for kinship carers, people who suddenly find themselves back in the role of parents, sometimes many years after they had brought up their own children."