Informal kinship care
This is when arrangements are made between family or friends without local authority involvement.
The kinship carer does not have parental responsibility with this arrangement
Private fostering
This arrangement occurs when a child or young person below the age of 16 (or 18 if the child has a disability) remains in your care for over 28 days and you are not an immediate family member such as grandparent, aunt, uncle or step-parent via marriage.
We must be informed by the carer or parent of a private fostering arrangement and we have a duty to assess and monitor the suitability of the placement for as long as the arrangement is in place.
The carer does not hold parental responsibility with this arrangement
Kinship foster care
There are 2 types of approval for kinship carers when we 'look after' a child.
The first is a temporary approval of between 16 to 4 weeks; the other is a full approval
A full approval
A full approval as a kinship carer means the carer has been assessed and approved as a kinship foster carer beyond the temporary approval period.
The child remains 'looked after' and in our care, and the kinship carer cares for the child or young person as a foster carer. This means the child or young person will continue to have a social worker and be visited regularly.
It also means we can make decisions relating to the child or young person in partnership with the birth parents.
Kinship foster carers do not hold parental responsibility. As a kinship foster carer, you will be entitled to the same support as unrelated foster carers.
You will be allocated a fostering social worker to supervise and support you as a kinship carer. As a kinship foster carer you'll be reviewed annually which will confirm whether it is appropriate for you to continue to care for the child as a kinship foster carer.
You will not be considered to care for any other child other than the child or children you have been assessed to care for.
Special guardianship Order (SGO)
To become a special guardian you need to have a kinship assessment.
Having an SGO would give you, as the special guardian, parental responsibility (PR) for the child or children you're caring for.
While your parental responsibility is shared with the birth parents, as the special guardianship carer you would, if needed, have the overriding say. This enables you to make day-to-day decisions like a parent until the child is 18.
An SGO offers legal permanence and security while allowing children to stay safely connected to their birth families, benefiting both the children’s identity and family stability.
An SGO also offers the child a secure base and an opportunity NOT to be 'looked after' by the local authority, therefore removing the stigma of being in care and eliminating regular statutory visits, reviews, meetings and medicals.
An SGO offers carers greater autonomy with fewer restrictions and shared PR, allowing the carer to make decisions relating to the child or young person they care for without having to first consult with us.
If the kinship assessment recommends an SGO is made, a support plan will also be completed so you can be involved and agree what support you'll need. In some cases, we'll provide you with an SGO allowance. A means tested financial assessment will be completed to determine what allowance you'd be entitled to.
While the positives to an SGO are clear, we also recognise the children you care for grow and develop, during which time, their needs can change. We understand that within this, both you and the child or young person are navigating the child’s past experiences, trauma and developmental milestones.
The post SGO support team is available to support and guide you and the children you care for until their 18th birthday.
Child arrangement order (CAO)
This is another family court order which sets out who the child will live with and contact arrangements.
The person granted the CAO will have parental responsibility, but this is shared equally with birth parents.
The order remains in place until the child reaches 16 years of age. It's likely that we'll have been asked to complete an assessment for the courts, for this order to be granted