About kinship care

If you are caring for a child who is not your birth child, you are a kinship carer. The arrangement can be temporary or long-term. There are different types of kinship care arrangements.

An informal family arrangement 

An informal family arrangement is one in which a child’s parents have arranged for their child to live with a very close family member, for example an uncle, aunt, grandparent, or stepparent. This is without the involvement of social workers or the Family Courts.

A private fostering arrangement

A private fostering arrangement is one where a child is under the age of 16 (or 18 if disabled) and is living with a friend or an extended family member (rather than a close family member like an aunt or uncle or grandparent) for more than 28 days.

 Find out more about private fostering.

An arrangement agreed by the Family Courts 

There are arrangements where it has been agreed by the Family Courts that a child will live with someone other than their parents. An example is through a Child Arrangement Order (CAO) or Special Guardianship Order (SGO).

An arrangement where a child is ‘looked after’ by the Local Authority

There are  arrangements where a child is ‘looked after’ by the Local Authority and is living with a friend or family member who has been assessed and approved to be their official ‘connected carer’ . This is also known as ‘family and friends foster care’.

About kinship carers

Kinship carers can be: 

• a close relative of the child
• a close relative of the child’s maternal or paternal sibling
• someone who was formerly the child’s step-parent or in a cohabiting relationship with the child’s parent
• a close friend of the child, or of the child’s parent(s)
• a close friend of the child’s close relative
• someone with a prior connection to the child who does not fall within one of the categories above, for example a teacher, youth worker, childminder or former foster carer 

The benefits of kinship care for children 

There are clear benefits to children if they’re kept within their family network.  Research shows that children in kinship care benefit from increased stability compared to children in local authority care and are able to maintain meaningful family relationships.  Even so, many children who go to live with kinship carers have had a difficult start in life, and their behaviour is often greatly affected by past experiences. 

Support for kinship carers

If you are a Southwark kinship carer, help is available. Read more about support for kinship carers.