Good Relations: Kinship Care in Liverpool, UK and the Views of Professionals on Human Rights

Human rights are little understood and often demonized in the UK. It is of particular importance to advocate for a greater understanding of how human rights are perceived at local level, and how these understandings can inform the national and global level. Kinship care involves families or friends taking on the care of the child of another, usually in emergency circumstances such as parental death or addiction. This group are far more likely than average to live in poverty, and yet are often ignored by the state. Human rights can frame their issue as one involving legitimate claims for greater support. In the specific Liverpool context, professionals working with kinship care families were asked about the relevance of human rights to kinship care. The results indicate that professionals see human rights as relevant, though there is confusion over what rights might entail, and over how actors might access them. Human rights are understood in a markedly 'light' way, whereby the rhetoric is used but in reality attention to rights is limited. This article argues that, to achieve a more authentic reliance on human rights, rights holders' concerns must set the agenda for future norm development, and thereforemultidirectional dialogue must be had about how to do this.