Kinship Care Ireland was founded by Caitriona Nic Mhuiris, who became a kinship carer herself, to her four nieces when her sister died.  From her own family’s experience, Caitríona has become a passionate advocate for recognising, valuing and supporting kinship families. With the support of Social Entrepreneurs Ireland and the Katherine Howard Foundation, she was able to consult with kinship carers and professionals and find a home for a new Kinship organisation, within Treoir, the organisation that supports unmarried parents.

Read more about Caitríona’s famiy and how KCI came into being, here: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/parenting/how-do-you-cope-when-your-family-doubles-in-size-overnight-1.4437500

Our Steering Group is made up of people with lived experience of kinship care, as well as representatives of family support organisations.

Our Coordinator can be emailed at: emma@kinshipcare.ie

Kinship Care Ireland provides information and support to kinship carers and to those who work closely with kinship families.

We advocate with and on behalf of kinship families, to highlight their needs and experiences.

We engage with family and child support services to assist them to ‘be there’ for kinship families within their own communities.

We make suggestions and submissions, through which we hope to ensure that the needs and rights of kinship families will be considered in policy making and practice development.

We run workshops and events to empower kinship carers in their vital role and to provide opportunities for kinship carers to meet each other.

If you are a kinship carer, we want you to know that you are not alone.

You can call Kinship Care Ireland, just to share your story with us.

We would love to connect with you about your kinship family experiences.

We are here to provide information and support to kinship carers and we are also happy to engage with professionals, who work with kinship families.

If you would like to get in touch with us for any reason, please do!