'You wouldn't expect a birth parent back at work the next day'

A mother has called for "equality" for carers who take on responsibility for children in the family who are not their own.

Under current legislation, kinship carers are not entitled to statutory paid employment leave when they take on the care of a child – unlike families who give birth or adopt.

Samantha, 41, from Doncaster, became responsible for her seven-month-old great-nephew when social services deemed she was the only family member who could take him.

She said the decision led to her giving up her job because she was unable to take any time off to care for him.

She told the BBC: "It was a very difficult decision I had to make because I thought I was done with nappies, toddlers, and things like that.

"I've got two teenage children of my own, so it was a very difficult decision to let him come.

"I worked in a school, so it wasn't the easiest profession to be in to ask for time off, but I did ask for time off for him to come and settle and I wasn't given any straight answers.

"I asked to reduce my hours, because there's a lot of ins and outs of being a kinship carer, and I was told no.

"So I had to make the difficult decision to quit my job to be able to take care of him."

Samantha is calling for a change in the law to allow kinship carers to take statutory paid employment leave.

"You wouldn't expect to give birth to a baby and go to work the next day. So why should we":[]}