Getting a Kinship Care Order

Kinship carers who want to have additional legal responsibilities for a child in their care, can apply to Court for a Kinship Care Order.

They may want to:

• be appointed as the child’s guardian,
• be granted a residence order which says where the child should live;
• have parental rights and responsibilities which can be shared with the child’s parents or removed.

The team can support you if you’re thinking about making an application for a kinship order and once granted.

A kinship care order will change the legal statue of the child from ‘Looked After’ to ‘Non-Looked After’. Depending on your child’s circumstances, this can mean that there is no longer a need for a child’s social worker, although this can be reviewed in the future. Kinship care support is still available from the team as required

Where a Kinship Care Order is granted for a young person who has previously been Looked After and Accommodated, they may be eligible for the council’s Throughcare service to help them prepare for the time when they’ll leave care.

Families with a Kinship Care Order are not able to access Continuing Care when the young person turns 16.