My Sister’s Daughter

About this episode

The episode explores the challenges and emotional complexities of kinship care through the stories of Laura and Jo.

When Laura's sister could no longer care for her daughter, Laura had a few hours to decide. If she said yes, she would become a parent again overnight, no training, no paid leave, no warning. If she said no, the little girl would go into care. She said yes. Most families do. My Sister's Daughter weaves Laura's story, told through the small, exhausting, tender details of a life rearranged, with the voice of Jo, now in her forties, looking back at her own childhood in kinship care. When Jo's mother died, a quiet constellation of adults closed around her: a stepfather, grandparents, aunts. Nobody called it kinship care, it didn’t have a name then. They just stepped in, and stayed. Together, Laura and Jo illuminate a world that is largely invisible, not because it is rare, but because it is so deeply woven into how families survive. There are over 130,000 children in kinship care in England and Wales right now. Most are there because someone said yes in a moment of crisis, with no time to think and very little support to follow. This is a programme about what that decision really means for the children who receive it, and for the adults who give it. It’s also about what it leaves…

People in this episode

Host: Jo Meek

Guest: Jo

Topics covered

• kinship care
• family dynamics
• parenting
• child welfare
• personal stories

Keywords

• kinship care
• family
• parenting
• child welfare
• personal narrative
• crisis decision

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: BBC Radio 4, Naked, Eloise Whitmore

More episodes of Illuminated

• The House in the Hole · June 7, 2026 · 28 min
• Voices from the Beach · May 31, 2026 · 29 min
• Tarot and the Art of Creativity · May 17, 2026 · 29 min
• Strong Women · May 3, 2026 · 29 min
• Me, Myself and the MRI · April 26, 2026 · 29 min
• Andy Mycock: Named, Unashamed · April 19, 2026 · 29 min