Kinship Care Week 2026: Recognising kinship families across Ireland

Across Ireland, grandparents, aunts, uncles, older brothers and sisters, and close family friends are raising children who can’t live with their parents.

Sometimes it’s planned, and sometimes it happens almost overnight. Either way, it means a child grows up surrounded by people who already know and love them.

Kinship Care Week (5-9 October) is a chance to celebrate these families.

Led by Kinship Care Ireland, a national programme run by the charity Treoir, this year’s theme is “celebrating kinship families and calling for the support they deserve.”

Here, we look at what kinship care is, why this week matters, and how DNA testing can help families who need to confirm a biological relationship for kinship care arrangements.

What is kinship care?

Kinship care is when a child is raised by a relative or close family friend because their parents aren’t able to look after them. This might be due to illness, addiction, bereavement, or other family difficulties.

There are two main types of kinship care in Ireland:

• Formal kinship care (also called relative foster care) where a child in the care of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, lives with a relative who has been assessed and approved as their foster carer. At the end of 2025, 1,513 children in Tusla’s care were living with relatives, representing around 1 in 4 of all children in care in Ireland.
• Informal kinship care is arranged privately within the family, without Tusla involvement.

For many children, staying with family can make a real difference, helping them:

• Stay connected to their parents, siblings, and wider family
• Keep a strong sense of who they are and where they come from
• Feel settled and secure with people they already know and trust

Why Kinship Care Week matters

Kinship carers do an amazing job, but many don’t get the recognition or support they need. This is especially true for families in informal arrangements, who may not have a social worker, financial help or clear information about their rights.

Kinship Care Week is about changing that.

During the week, Kinship Care Ireland is sharing a range of free resources, including real stories from kinship families, a free webinar, and guides with simple ways to get involved. If you’re a kinship carer, or know someone who is, it’s worth taking a look.

When is a DNA test useful for kinship families?

For most kinship families, a DNA test simply isn’t needed. But in some situations, being able to confirm a biological connection can help.

For example:

• Where the child’s father isn’t available to test. If the father has passed away, can’t be found, or won’t take a paternity test, his close relatives (parents and full siblings) can be tested instead to establish whether he is the child’s biological father.
• Where siblings are being cared for together. It may not be clear whether brothers and sisters share the same father.
• During a Tusla assessment. A social worker may need to confirm a child’s biological relationship to a grandparent, aunt or uncle who is being considered as the child’s carer.

Related: Kinship care in Ireland – How DNA testing can help families prove biological relationships

What is complex relationship DNA testing?

A standard paternity test compares a child’s DNA directly with that of the potential father.

When the relationship being tested is between other family members, such as a grandparent and grandchild, it’s known as a complex relationship DNA test.

The main types of complex relationship DNA tests are:

• Grandparent DNA test: confirms whether a grandparent and grandchild are biologically related. Where the father isn’t available, his parents can be tested instead. The result is more likely to be conclusive if both paternal grandparents are tested, but this isn’t essential, and the test can be performed with just one grandparent.
• Avuncular (aunt and uncle) DNA test: confirms whether an aunt or uncle is biologically related to their niece or nephew. For these tests, the aunt or uncle must be a full biological sibling of the child’s potential father.
• Sibling DNA test: confirms whether children are full siblings, half siblings or not related.

Because these relatives share less DNA than a parent and child, our scientists use statistical analysis to calculate how likely it is that a biological relationship exists.

Learn more: Complex DNA relationship testing

Peace of mind or legal DNA testing: which do you need?

The type of DNA test you need depends on how you intend to use the results:

• Peace of mind DNA test: If you’d simply like to confirm a biological relationship for your own reassurance, perhaps before moving forward with a formal kinship care arrangement, a home DNA test is a quick, private and affordable option. Order your test kit online, collect the cheek swab DNA samples yourself at home and return them to our accredited laboratory for analysis. The results are for your personal knowledge only and can’t be used for legal or official matters.
• Legal DNA test: If the results are needed for Tusla, the courts, immigration or any other official purpose, you’ll need a legal DNA test. This means your samples are collected by a professional AlphaBiolabs sample collector in accordance with chain of custody. Chain of custody is a secure, fully documented process that confirms each person’s identity and makes sure samples can’t be tampered with, so the results can be accepted as evidence for legal and official matters.

Learn more: How to choose the right DNA test – a comprehensive guide

DNA testing for kinship families

As Ireland’s No.1 DNA testing laboratory, AlphaBiolabs offers a full range of complex relationship DNA tests to support kinship families, including sibling, aunt, uncle and grandparent DNA testing, for peace of mind and legal/official purposes.

Why choose AlphaBiolabs for DNA testing?

• Over 20 years’ experience supporting families across Ireland with fast, accurate and affordable DNA testing  
• All analysis performed at our ISO 17025-accredited laboratory
• Easy-to-use home test kits, delivered in discreet, plain packaging
• Nationwide sample collection network and FREE sample collection for legally-instructed DNA tests at our walk-in centres in Dublin and Belfast
• Rapid results, helping to reduce delays and meet urgent legal deadlines
• Court-ready legal test reports, accepted by Irish courts
• Friendly, expert guidance and support

Kinship care cases are often time-sensitive and emotionally significant for the families involved. By removing biological doubt early in the process, DNA testing can help ensure that children remain with the family members who matter most to them.

Explore our full range of relationship DNA tests and order online.

Need a legal DNA test? Call our friendly, knowledgeable team on 01 402 9466 or email info@alphabiolabs.ie for guidance on the best test to suit your needs.