Legal information and support for kinship carers

Our kinship legal framework 

Brighton & Hove City Council has a duty to:

• safeguard and promote the welfare of children in need living within Brighton & Hove
• promote the upbringing of children in Brighton & Hove by their families

The way we fulfil this duty is by providing a range and level of services appropriate to children's assessed needs (Section 17, Children Act 1989). This can include financial, practical or other support.

Brighton & Hove City Council does not have a general duty to assess all arrangements where children are living with their wider family or friends’ network rather than their parents, but it does have a duty where it appears that services may be necessary to safeguard or promote the welfare of a child in need.

Children in need may live with members of their family or friends in a variety of different legal arrangements, some formal and some informal. Different court orders are available to formalise these arrangements.

Children that are looked after by Brighton & Hove City Council will always come within the definition of children in need, whether they are accommodated under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, (with parental consent), or in care subject to a court order whereby we (the local authority) share parental responsibility for the child. We have a responsibility wherever possible to make arrangements for a child in our care to live with a member of their family (Section 22 of the Children Act 1989).

In relation to financial support, we may provide carers of children in need with such support on a regular or one-off basis, under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. This may include discretionary funding.

A child in need is defined in Section 17(10) of the Children Act 1989 as a child who is 'disabled or who is unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision of services by the local authority'.