Dumfries & Galloway Kinship Care Funding Target Set

A £250,000 target has been set to support kinship carers in Dumfries and Galloway for the year ahead.

Scottish Government funding will meet almost half that total but the council hopes to find a way to take the sum up to the figure it estimates is needed.

Kinship carers are relatives or friends who look after children who cannot be cared for by their own parents.

A report discussing the funds needed to pay their allowances is set to go before councillors later this month.

A three-year funding package has been agreed for Dumfries and Galloway by the Scottish Government.

It will start at £120,000 this year and increase to £360,000 by the final year of the deal.

However, the authority has estimated it needs about £130,000 to bridge the initial funding gap.

Social work committee chairman Denis Male said it was positive that some money had been found.

He added that he was confident the council could find a way to provide the extra money required.