Kinship care

Information, resources and guidance for kinship carers

Kinship care is when a child is looked after by a relative, close friend, or someone with a significant relationship to them because their parents are unable to provide care. It's a way to keep children connected to their family, community, and culture.

Kinship carers are sometimes called ‘family and friends carers’ or ‘connected carers’.

Find out how different kinship care arrangements affect your rights and responsibilities:

Types of kinship care

There are many different types of kinship care. The type of kinship care arrangement you have affects your responsibilities for the child, what decisions you can make and what support you can access.

Kinship care arrangements are grouped as either being informal or formal.

Informal kinship arrangements are agreed privately between a child’s legal guardian and the chosen kinship carer. The kinship carer can access support from universal services such as Family Hubs. Children’s services will offer targeted support if there is a worry about the child's wellbeing or safety.

Formal kinship arrangements are agreed in court and children’s services are involved in the majority of these cases. Children’s services will offer targeted or statutory support if there is a worry about the child's wellbeing or safety, or if they have placed a child who has a care order with a kinship carer.

Informal kinship care

Informal kinship care is a private arrangement where a child is looked after by a close relative, close relatives are defined as a step-parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt.

The child’s parents keep their parental responsibility and make key decisions about the child's care, however the relative is responsible for the child’s day to day care.
The child’s parents and relatives agree on this themselves, without children’s services or the family court being involved or notified.
The child can stay with their relative for a short time or a long time.

Private fostering

Private fostering is when a child is looked after for 28 days or more by someone who is not their parent or a close relative. Close relatives are defined as a step-parent, grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt.

The child’s parents and the private foster carer agree on this themselves, but they must inform children’s services, more information on private fostering, including how to notify children’s services, can be found here.
The child’s parents keep their parental responsibility and make key decisions about the child's care, the private fostering carer will be responsible for the child’s day-to-day care.
A social worker will visit the home of the private fostering carer to make sure the child is safe and well looked after.
This applies to children who are under 16 years old (or under 18 years old if the child has a disability).

Child Arrangements Order (CAO)

Kinship carers with a CAO are chosen to look after a child by a decision made in the family court. This can be applied for privately by the child’s parents, in these cases children’s services do not need to be involved.

If a child is looked after by children’s services, via an interim care order or care order, a temporary CAO with a kinship carer might be used to make sure the child is well looked after whilst a long term care plan is confirmed.

The kinship carer shares parental responsibility with the child’s parents, until the child is 18 years old or the court says otherwise.
The court order decides who a child lives with and for how long.
You do not have to be a close relative to be granted a CAO.

Special Guardianship Orders (SGO)

Kinship carers with a SGO are given parental responsibility for a child through a family court decision, SGO process information.

The special guardian (kinship carer) shares parental responsibility with the child’s parents but can make nearly all major decisions about the child without the parents’ involvement.
SGO’s stay in place until the child turns 18.
Special guardians do not have to be a close relative.
A child's parents can apply for an SGO themselves, or children's services might apply for one if the child is looked after by children’s services via an interim care order or care order.
A social worker from children's services will do an assessment to help the court decide who should care for the child.
Children's services must provide support services for special guardians in their area, this is provided by the Fostering and Kinship team.

Kinship/Connected Care

Kinship/Connected Care foster carers become registered foster carers to look after a child that they already know, and who is being looked after by children's services via an interim care order or care order.

Children’s services might place a child with a kinship foster carer if a child spends more than 24 hours in care and their parents agree, or if a court orders it.
Children’s services hold full parental responsibility for the child, or in some cases, share it with the child’s parents.
A child can stay with the kinship foster carer for a short time or a long time.
Kinship foster carers do not have to be a close family member, they could be a friend or other known person.
Kinship foster carers will work with the children’s services to become registered foster carers for the child and they will receive ongoing training, financial support and practical support from children’s services.
Children’s services must provide support services for registered foster carers in their area, this includes financial support and a supervising social worker, this is provided by the Fostering and Kinship team.

Adoption

Adoption is separate to kinship arrangements. It gives a child a permanent home and family when their parents are unable to raise them and contact with the biological parents no longer takes place.

Adoptive parents take on full legal and parental responsibility for the child, this decision is made through a court order.
The adoption order is permanent and cannot be reversed, except in very rare circumstances.
Children’s services offer support on adoption to families by working with regional adoption agencies. For Kingston and Richmond this is Adopt London South and in Windsor and Maidenhead this is Adopt Thames Valley.

Support from AfC

The AfC Info website provides a range of information on activities and services for parents, carers, young people and professionals, including support around parenting courses, children’s and youth centres, family hubs, support around education services including AfC Virtual School, SEND, emotional health and information for young people.

All kinship carers can access universal support services, useful ones are listed to the left or visit AfC Info for Kingston and Richmond or AfC Info for Windsor and Maidenhead.

The Fostering and Kinship team provide support and guidance for kinship carers who hold Special Guardianship Orders, Child Arrangement Orders or are becoming Connected Carers.

Home visits and one to one support.
Access to AfC newsletters, forums, coffee mornings and support groups, you can search the Kinship website for a group near you.
Celebration events for kinship families.
Needs assessment and a support plan.
Support with applications to therapeutic support via Adoption and Special Guardian Support Fund (where relevant).
Support to access to our Emotional Health Service
Advice for managing family time contact including review meetings and mediation.
Signposting, advice and guidance, with some direct support for housing, education, health services and financial support.
Peer mentoring programmes providing support and advice from existing kinship carers.
Access to targeted training and development opportunities.

Therapeutic life-story work
Mentoring programme for children in kinship care
Support from the AfC Virtual School, who champion the education of children who are previously looked after or in any form of kinship care.

The services below provide helpful information that may be of interest to kinship carers:

Kinship

Phone: 03300 167 235
Email: [email protected]
Website: Kinship
(Advice, events, training and support for kinship carers, including this podcast and information on local support groups)

Kinship Carers UK

Phone: 07714 531802
Email: [email protected]
Website: Kinship Carers UK
(Advice, events, training and support for kinship carers)

Action for Children

(Advice on adjusting to kinship care)

Families in Harmony

(Support around racial equality kinship)

Family Rights Group

Phone: 0808 801 0366
Wesbite: Family Rights Group
(Support around child welfare and the family justice system)

PAC-UK

Phone: 0300 1800 090
Email: [email protected]
Website: PAC-UK
(Support for those affected by adoption, Special Guardianship and other forms of permanent care)

National Family Mediation

Phone: 0300 4000 636
Email: [email protected]
Website: National Family Mediation
(Support for families in conflict around practical, legal, emotional and financial issues)

Coram Voice

Phone: 0808 800 5792
Email: [email protected]
Website: Coram Voice
(Work to get the voices of children in care and care leavers heard in decisions that matter to them)

Citizens Advice

Phone: 0800 144 8848
Website: Citizens Advice
(Guidance and practical advice on a range of topics, including benefits, housing, family and the legal system)

Mind

Phone: 0300 102 1234
Email: [email protected]
Website: Mind
(Support around parenting whilst looking after your mental health)

Kooth

Phone: 020 3984 9337
Website: Kooth
(A free, safe and anonymous online platform providing mental health support for young people aged 11 to 26, available 24 hours a day)

Cafcass

Phone: 0808 175 3333
Website: Cafcass
(Legal advice for children in family court cases and information on topics like adoption, divorce and separation)

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