Types of kinship care arrangements

An informal kinship care arrangement is when a family makes their own arrangements for the care of a child within the kinship network. This can happen when a child cannot be cared for by their immediate family.

We do not have a duty to assess any informal kinship care arrangements, unless it appears that services may be necessary to safeguard or promote the welfare of the child.

If you're an informal kinship carer and you would like to request support, contact:

A privately fostered child is a child under 16 years old (or 18 if they're disabled) who is:

• cared for by an adult who is not a parent or close relative
• cared for in that home for 28 days or more

Close relative is defined as a:

• grandparent
• brother or sister
• uncle or aunt - whether full blood or half blood, or by marriage or civil partnership
• stepparent

It does not include a child who is looked after by us (the local authority). In a private fostering arrangement, the parent still holds parental responsibility and agrees the arrangement with the private foster carer. We are not involved in making the arrangement. 

We have a duty to assess and monitor the welfare of all privately fostered children. The way they carry out these duties is set out in the Children (Private Arrangements for Fostering) Regulations 2005. 

The Kinship Care Team do not support or assess private fostering arrangements, these are assessed and supported by:

When a child is looked after by us (the local authority), there is a responsibility, wherever possible, to make arrangements for the child to live within their kinship network. The child can be placed with kinship foster carers prior to full approval at a fostering panel, for up to 16 weeks, subject to an initial viability assessment of the placement. This is known as a ‘Regulation 24 placement’. 

Where the 16 week temporary approval is given to a placement, the carers will receive a weekly Kinship Foster Care Allowance. 

If more time is needed beyond the 16 weeks, the arrangement can continue under Regulation 25 for a further 8 weeks, subject to further assessment and approval. During this extended period of temporary approval, carers receive a weekly Kinship Foster Care Allowance to support the child’s needs. 

Kinship foster carers approval process

Where a child is looked after by us and placed with kinship foster carers, the assessment and approval process must be completed within the temporary approval period of 16 weeks. In all other respects the process is the same as that for any prospective foster carer. Potential kinship foster carers will be fully briefed about the assessment and approval process by their assessing social worker from the Kinship Care Team. They will receive written information about the process.

In addition, the child will have a Placement Plan which sets out the specific arrangements surrounding that child. This includes the expectations of the Kinship Foster Carers and the support they can expect to receive to help them fulfil their responsibilities for that child. A support plan will be completed if there's an expectation that the child will stay in the placement with the Kinship Carers for the duration of their childhood.

Carers who apply to become kinship foster carers for a specific child will be assessed using the Coram BAAF Form K assessment format. The completed assessment will be presented to Brighton & Hove City Council Fostering Panel for a recommendation on whether the carers should be approved as kinship foster carers for that particular child or children. This process mirrors the process for unrelated foster carers. In most cases, the timescale for assessment is set by the court and is 12 weeks. 

After a kinship foster carer is approved

Once approved or temporarily regulated, kinship foster carers will be allocated a supervising social worker from the Kinship Care Team to provide support and supervision and ensure the carers meet national minimum fostering standards and regulation. Kinship foster carers receive a fostering allowance based on the Government’s recommended National Minimum Fostering Allowance.

There are mandatory training courses which relate to the fostering task which unrelated foster carers are required to complete, in addition to the Training, Support and Development Standards portfolio (TSDS) which evidence knowledge and compliance against fostering standards. Successful completion of these requirements results in a skills fee payment. This skills fee payment is available to fully approved kinship foster carers on satisfactory completion of the mandatory training and TSDS portfolio. 

While the child remains a ‘looked after child’, kinship foster carers are expected to cooperate with all the processes that are in place to ensure the child receives appropriate care and support, for example:

• contributing to reviews of the child's care plan and support plan
• engaging with the child’s social worker visiting schedule
• supporting family time arrangements
• promoting the child's education and health needs

The expectations of foster carers are set out in the Foster Carer Agreement which all carers, including kinship foster carers must sign up to. 

For more information contact:

A child arrangements order is a court order which sets out the arrangements of when and with whom a child will live with, spend time with or otherwise have contact. 

It may give parental responsibility to the person in whose favour it is made. Parental responsibility is shared with the child’s parents. 

Child arrangements orders may be made in private family proceedings. We are not involved in these arrangements. Equally, a Child arrangements order may be made to a kinship carer as an appropriate permanence plan for a child in need or a looked after child. 

We may pay a child arrangements order allowance to kinship carers 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. This is discretionary and is not intended to remove responsibility from the birth parents to make adequate financial provision for their child. Financial support is normally only provided to avoid a child becoming cared for by us (the local authority) or to enable a child who is being cared for by us to be cared for by their kinship network, outside of the care system. 

Where a placement cannot proceed without financial support, an assessment will be undertaken and a case for financial support to a child arrangements order can be made by the assessing social worker. This will be presented to the Kinship Care Team Manager, who will seek a decision from Fostering Placements & Permanence Head of Service and the assistant director.

Where an allowance is agreed, an annual statement will be required from the child arrangements order carer, confirming the child’s continued residence with them and attendance in full time education up to the age of 18 years old. Carers are expected to notify the local authority if the child leaves their care or commences full time employment.  

Special guardianship offers a further permanence option for children who cannot be cared for by their parents. Special guardians hold parental responsibility for the child which, whilst still shared with the parents, can be exercised with greater autonomy on day-to-day matters than with a child arrangements order. 

Kinship carers may apply for a special guardianship order after caring for the child for one year. We may also invite the court to make a special guardianship order during public law proceedings, often known as ‘care proceedings’. 

Special guardianship orders may also be made in private family proceedings where we are not involved.  

Adoption is the process where 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, as if they were born to that family. 

An adoption order in favour of a relative or friend 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. 

Regional Adoption Agencies provide a range of adoption support services. They must 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. This may include financial support. Financial support is subject to an initial and annual financial assessment.