Sibling kinship care is far more common than most people realise, yet it remains one of the least understood forms of care. In this powerful episode of Trauma Informed Conversations, part of the Care-Experienced People mini-series, host Carrie Wilson sits down with Dr Lorna Stabler from Cardiff University to explore what really happens when a young person becomes the primary carer for their own brother or sister.

Drawing on lived experience and ground-breaking research, Lorna shares the hidden realities of sibling kinship care: stepping into parenting roles while still traumatised, navigating systems that don’t recognise sibling carers, and carrying emotional and financial pressures that professionals often overlook. Together, Carrie and Lorna unpack the myths, misunderstandings and invisible labour that shape these family stories, while highlighting the deep love, commitment and resilience that hold them together.

Listeners will gain insight into why sibling kinship care sits at the intersection of multiple forms of invisibility, how language and policy fail to reflect real family life, and what needs to change to build trauma-informed systems that actually support carers rather than overwhelm them. From shared-care models to financial recognition, from the importance of narrative work to the complexity of sibling bonds, this episode offers a compassionate and honest exploration of a rarely heard care experience.

Whether you work in social care, policy, education, or simply want to understand kinship care more deeply, this conversation invites you to rethink assumptions and recognise sibling carers as experts in connection, not exceptions to the rule.

Key topics include:

• The emotional and practical realities of becoming a sibling kinship carer
• Why existing systems expect carers to “do 100% or nothing”
• Trauma-informed approaches to supporting kinship families
• The power of narrative and lived experience in reshaping practice
• Financial barriers, identity, and the hidden costs of care
• How language like “placement” and “contact” distorts real family relationships

About our Guest

Dr Lorna Stabler is a researcher at the CASCADE Research Centre at Cardiff University, focusing on care experience, kinship care and family support. She grew up in and out of foster care and kinship care and later became a kinship foster carer for her younger brother. That lived experience runs through her work, including her PhD on sibling kinship care, which asks not whether kinship care is “good or bad” but how it really feels to live it.

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In this episode of Trauma Informed Conversations, Jessica Parker, Director at Trauma Informed Consultancy Services (TICS), speaks with Carrie Wilson, TICS Collaboration and Innovation Lead, following Carrie’s powerful appearance on BBC Breakfast discussing care-experienced people, accommodation, and the systemic issues that urgently need to change. Their conversation builds on the brilliant coverage of Terry Galloway’s work to create spaces where care-experienced young people can develop the key life skills our systems too often fail to provide.

Together, Jessica and Carrie reflect in more depth on the themes raised during the broadcast, exploring the emotional, practical and structural realities that sit behind public narratives. This discussion also connects closely to Carrie’s PhD research, which examines the lived experiences of care-experienced young people and the systemic conditions that shape their journeys.

Carrie offers an honest exploration of family privilege—the invisible safety nets and everyday advantages many young people inherit without ever naming them—and how the absence of those supports profoundly shapes the experiences and outcomes of care-experienced people. Drawing on Sieta’s research, they discuss how evidence exposes persistent structural inequalities and illustrates how current systems can retraumatise rather than support young people.

They examine the reality of forced independence, where care-experienced young people are expected to take on adult responsibilities prematurely, often while navigating extremely restrictive budgets that limit choice, dignity and developmental opportunity.

The conversation also includes a discussion about the importance of trauma-informed understanding and responses, with reference to the work of organisations such as Madlug. Jessica and Carrie reflect on how Madlug recognises the trauma created by the undignified and dehumanising use of bin bags to move children and young people and their belongings while in the care system, and how dignity-centred approaches are essential for systemic change.

Finally, they explore their shared passion for research, education and lived-experience-led practice, and how these commitments have shaped the development of the Researcher & Educator Suite—a growing collection of trauma-informed, evidence-driven learning tools designed to support practitioners, educators and leaders.

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In this episode of Trauma Informed Conversations, Carrie speaks with journalist, Churchill Fellow and TEDx speaker Sophia Alexandra Hall about what it means to tell stories with care-experienced people rather than about them.

Drawing on her own journey from care into journalism, Sophia explains the three roles the media often forces under-represented communities into: tragic victim, dangerous threat, or inspirational exception. She describes how these narrow narratives can dehumanise and retraumatise people, and how her experiences as both an interviewee and Deputy Digital Editor at The Big Issue inspired her to create a trauma-informed storytelling toolkit.

Carrie and Sophia explore how journalism, research, education and practice can shift towards safer and more collaborative storytelling that gives people greater control over their narratives. This episode forms part of our mini-series on trauma and healing in the care system, led by care-experienced voices.

In This Episode, We Explore

• How Sophia moved into journalism through campaigning against SI 445 and the importance of making complex information accessible.
• The impact of seeing limiting statistics about care leavers.
• The three restrictive media boxes: tragic victim, dangerous threat and inspirational exception.
• Highlights from Sophia’s Churchill Fellowship, including meeting care-experienced people in LA and learning from trauma specialists.
• The idea of the disempowered interviewee and how power and choice can quietly be removed.
• Practical trauma-informed approaches, including choosing when to share your story, and ways journalists and practitioners can work more collaboratively, such as commissioning lived-experience writing.
• A hopeful look at the online care-experienced community and how we can all support stories told in people’s own words.

About Our Guest

Sophia Alexandra Hall is a care-experienced journalist and Deputy Digital Editor at The Big Issue. She reviews papers for Sky News, studied at the University of Oxford, is a TEDx speaker and is a Churchill Fellow focused on trauma-informed storytelling. She works to challenge harmful media narratives and promote ethical, consent-led storytelling. She is online as @SophiasSocials.

Content Note

This episode discusses childhood trauma, care experience, media portrayals and retraumatisation. Please listen in a way that feels safe for you.

Learn More with TICS

This conversation reflects the work we do at Trauma Informed Consultancy Services, supporting organisations and communities to move from trauma-aware to trauma-responsive practice.

You may be interested in:

• Trauma-Informed Research with Care-Experienced People
• Trauma-Informed Record Keeping
• Bespoke consultancy to embed trauma-informed principles into strategy and participation

Find details at ticservicesltd.com or contact lyndsay@ticservicesltd.com

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