Types of Kinship Care

Where a child cannot be cared for within his or her immediate family, the family may make their own arrangements to care for the child within the family and friends network.

The local authority does not have a duty to assess any such informal family and friends care arrangements, unless it appears to the authority that services may be necessary to safeguard or promote the welfare of a Child in Need. In such cases, the local authority has a responsibility under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 to assess the child’s needs and provide services to meet any assessed needs of the child. Following an assessment, a Child in Need Plan will be drawn up and a package of support will be identified. This can comprise of a variety of different types of services and support, including financial support.

Parental responsibility remains with the birth parents, but the carer may do what is reasonable to safeguard or promote the child’s welfare.

Private fostering arrangements

A privately fostered child is a child under 16 (or 18 if disabled) who is cared for by an adult who is not a parent or close relative, where the child is to be cared for in that home for 28 days or more. Close relative is defined as ‘a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt (whether of the full blood or half blood or by marriage or civil partnership) or step-parent.’ It does not include a child who is Looked After by a local authority. In a private fostering arrangement, the parent still holds parental responsibility and agrees the decision-making arrangements with the private foster carer.

The local authority has a duty to assess and monitor the welfare of all privately fostered children and the way in which they carry out these duties is set out in the Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005. However, the local authority may also become involved with a child in a private fostering arrangement where the child comes within the definition of a Child in Need. In such cases, the local authority has a responsibility to provide services to meet the assessed needs of the child under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. Following assessment, a Child in Need Plan will be drawn up and a package of support will be identified. As in 4.1 above, this can comprise a variety of different types of services and support, including financial support.

Family and friends foster carers – ‘Connected Persons’

Where a child is looked after by the local authority, we have a responsibility wherever possible to make arrangements for the child to live with a member of the family who is approved as a foster carer (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989). The child can be placed with the family members prior to such approval, subject to an assessment of the placement, for up to 16 weeks under Regulation 24 of the Care Planning, Placement and Case Review (England) Regulations 2010. Regulation 24(1) provides that where the local authority is satisfied that an immediate placement with a Connected Persons is the most appropriate placement for the child, the carers can have temporary approval for a period of up to 16 weeks provided that an assessment of their suitability under Regulation 24(2) has taken place. Regulation 25 of the 2010 Care Planning Regulations gives an extension of 8 weeks to the original 16 weeks.

In this context the carer is referred to as a Connected Person and the process of obtaining approval for the placement is set out in the Placements with Connected Persons Procedure. Where temporary approval is given to such a placement under the procedure, the carers will receive financial support on a regular basis. This may cover placements at very short notice.

In addition the child will have a placement plan which sets out the specific arrangements surrounding the child and the carers including the expectations of the foster carers and the support they can expect to receive to enable to fulfil their responsibilities for the child.

The assessment and approval process for family and friends who apply to be foster carers for a specific Looked After child will be similar to any other foster carer and include checks and references, however the assessment is focussed on meeting the needs of the specific child/children rather than generic issues. The assessment form is different from the mainstream fostering assessment and those carrying out the assessment should verify with the fostering manager the correct form. The timescales for the assessment are different where a child is already in the placement as indicated above at the top of this section. An information pack will be available to potential foster carers about the process and they will be given the name and contact details of the social worker from the Fostering Service allocated to carry out the assessment.

Once approved as foster carers, they will be allocated a supervising social worker from the fostering service to provide them with support and supervision; and they will receive fostering allowances for as long as they care for the child as a foster carer.

While the child remains a looked after child, as a foster carer, they will be expected to cooperate with all the processes that are in place to ensure that the child receives appropriate care and support, for example, contributing to reviews of the child’s Care Plan, cooperating with the child’s social worker and promoting the child’s education and health needs.

Authority for day-to-day decision making about the child should be delegated to the carer(s), unless there is a valid reason not to do so.

Child Arrangements Order

A Child Arrangements Order is a Court Order which sets out the arrangements as to when and with whom a child is to live, spend time or otherwise have contact.

These orders replace the previous Contact Orders and Residence Orders.

A Child Arrangements Order may give parental responsibility to the person in whose favour it is made. Parental responsibility is shared with the parents.

Authority for day-to-day decision making about the child should be delegated to the carer(s), unless there is a valid reason not to do so.

Child Arrangements Orders may be made in private family proceedings in which the local authority is not a party nor involved in any way in the arrangements. However, a Child Arrangements Order in favour of a relative or foster carer (who was a ‘Connected Person’) with whom a child is placed may be an appropriate outcome as part of a permanence plan for a Child in Need or a ‘Looked After’ child.

The local authority may pay Child Arrangements Order Allowances to relatives or friends, unless they are a spouse or civil partner of a parent, with whom a child is living under a Child Arrangements Order. This is set out in paragraph 15 of Schedule 1 of the Children Act 1989, however this is discretionary.

Special Guardianship Order

Special Guardianship offers a further option for children needing permanent care outside their birth family. It can offer greater security without absolute severance from the birth family as in adoption. The following individuals can apply to be a child’s special guardian if they are not their parent and are over 18:

They are already the child’s legal guardian;
The child lives with the carer because of a child arrangements order;
The child has lived with the carer for 3 of the past 5 years;
The carer is the child’s relative or a foster parent, and the child has been living with them for at least 1 year;
The carer has the agreement of anyone named in a child arrangements order as someone who the child will live with;
The carer has agreement of all the people with parental responsibility for the child;
The carer has the agreement of the local council, if the child is in care;
If the carer does not fit one of these descriptions, they will need to ask the court’s permission to apply.

A joint application can also be made. For further information and for forms please see: Becoming a Special Guardian

Adoption Order

Adoption is the process by which all parental rights and responsibilities for a child are permanently transferred to an adoptive parent by a court. As a result the child legally becomes part of the adoptive family.

An Adoption Order in favour of a relative or foster carer (who was a ‘Connected Person’) with whom a child is living may be an appropriate outcome as part of a permanence plan for a Child in Need or a ‘Looked After’ child.

Local authorities must make arrangements, as part of their adoption service, for the provision of a range of adoption support services. They then have to undertake assessments of the need for adoption support services at the request of the adopted child, adoptive parents and their families, as well as birth relatives. The support required is then set out in an Adoption Support Plan and this may include financial support.