Guidance on Grandparents & Kinship Care Rights

1. What Is Kinship Care?

Kinship care is an arrangement in which a child is raised by someone within the child’s family or wider network rather than by their parents. This can include:

• Grandparents
• Aunts and uncles
• Older adult siblings
• Other relatives
• Family friends
• Other people with an established connection to the child
• “Connected persons” where a local authority places a looked-after child with someone connected to them

Reasons can include parent illness, domestic abuse, substance misuse, imprisonment, death, neglect, family crisis or safeguarding concerns.

2. Grandparents’ Legal Rights

Grandparents do not automatically have a legal right to see their grandchildren in England or Wales. The court’s focus is the child’s welfare, not an adult’s right to contact.

Grandparents may nevertheless be able to:

• Seek an informal contact agreement.
• Use family mediation where appropriate.
• Apply for a Child Arrangements Order about spending time with a child.
• Apply for a Child Arrangements Order providing that a child lives with them.
• Apply for a Special Guardianship Order where the legal tests are met.
• Be assessed as a kinship foster carer or connected-person carer where the child is looked after by a local authority.
• Apply to adopt in suitable cases.

3. Types of Kinship Care Arrangements

A. Informal Family Arrangement

There is no court order. A parent agrees that a grandparent or other person will care for the child. The parents normally retain parental responsibility and the carer does not automatically acquire it.

This can create practical difficulties with schools, medical decisions, passports and longer-term decision-making.

B. Private Fostering

Private fostering is a specific legal category. In broad terms, if a child under 16 (or under 18 if disabled) is cared for for 28 days or more by someone who is not a parent, person with parental responsibility or a close relative as defined by the Children Act, the council must normally be told.

For this purpose, close relatives include a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt and certain step-parents. A cousin, great-aunt, family friend or unmarried former partner of a parent may therefore fall into private fostering rules.

C. Child Arrangements Order (CAO)

A Child Arrangements Order can say with whom a child is to live and/or with whom the child is to spend time or otherwise have contact.

If a non-parent is named in a “lives with” Child Arrangements Order, that person receives parental responsibility for the duration of the order.

A person with a CAO shares parental responsibility with others who hold it. A CAO does not generally give the same overriding authority as special guardianship.

D. Special Guardianship Order (SGO)

An SGO is designed to provide a child with long-term stability where adoption may not be appropriate. It gives the special guardian enhanced parental responsibility and normally lasts until the child reaches 18 unless discharged earlier.

4. Who Can Apply for a Special Guardianship Order?

The basic requirements are that the applicant is over 18 and is not the child’s parent. But that is not the whole test for being entitled to make the application without first obtaining permission.

GOV.UK states that applicants can apply without additional permission in a number of situations, including where they are already the child’s guardian, the child lives with them under a CAO, the child has lived with them for 3 of the last 5 years, or in certain cases where they are a relative or foster parent and the child has lived with them for at least a year. Consent from specified people or the local authority can also provide a route to apply.

If none of the listed categories apply, the applicant may need to ask the court for permission first.

5. How Special Guardianship Works

A special guardian receives parental responsibility for the child. The child’s parents usually continue to have parental responsibility, but the special guardian can generally exercise parental responsibility to the exclusion of other people with parental responsibility on most matters.

There are important exceptions. GOV.UK identifies decisions such as changing the child’s surname, adoption and taking the child abroad for more than 3 months as matters where consent or a court decision may still be required.

6. Special Guardianship vs Adoption

7. Family Court Process

Many kinship disputes and applications are dealt with in the Family Court.

Current fee: from 13 July 2026, the main fee for a section 8 Children Act application and for a Special Guardianship Order is listed as £270. Help with Fees may reduce or remove the fee for eligible people.

8. Social Services & Kinship Care

Local authorities may assess relatives and friends, provide family support, investigate safeguarding concerns, place a looked-after child with a connected person and assess a proposed special guardian.

Assessments can consider:

• Safety and safeguarding
• The carer’s relationship with the child
• Parenting capacity and ability to meet the child’s needs
• Home and housing circumstances
• Health
• Finances and practical stability
• Criminal-record and safeguarding checks
• Family relationships and proposed contact with parents
• The child’s identity, culture, education, health and emotional needs
• The support package needed to make the placement sustainable

9. Kinship Foster Care / Connected-Person Care

Some grandparents and relatives care for a child as an approved kinship foster carer or connected-person foster carer because the child is looked after by the local authority. This is legally very different from a private family arrangement.

Kinship foster carers may receive:

• Fostering allowance
• Training and supervision
• Social-worker support
• Support under the child’s care plan
• Other payments or fees depending on the authority’s scheme and the carer’s approval status

10. Financial Support for Kinship Carers

Possible help can include:

• Child Benefit where the eligibility rules are met
• Universal Credit child-related amounts where the carer is treated as responsible for the child
• Guardian’s Allowance in qualifying bereavement situations
• Fostering allowance for approved kinship foster carers looking after a looked-after child
• Special Guardianship financial support following local-authority assessment where applicable
• Discretionary local-authority support
• One-off help in appropriate cases
• Therapeutic support through relevant support funds for eligible SGO/CAO families

11. Guardian’s Allowance

Guardian’s Allowance is not a general payment simply because a child lives with a grandparent or relative. It is primarily for a person bringing up a child whose parents have died, although there are specified circumstances where one parent survives.

As at August 2026, GOV.UK states the rate is £22.95 a week, paid on top of Child Benefit and tax-free, subject to the eligibility rules.

12. Housing & Kinship Care

Taking a child into the household may create an urgent need for additional space, furniture, adaptations or a move. Kinship carers can consider:

• Asking the council/housing association to reassess bedroom need and household composition.
• Providing evidence of the child’s permanent or regular residence.
• Explaining safeguarding, disability or welfare needs affecting the home.
• Checking Universal Credit housing costs or Housing Benefit rules that apply to the household.
• Asking children’s services whether one-off support is available for items such as bedroom furniture where the child is in need.
• Getting housing advice if overcrowding, homelessness or unsuitable accommodation threatens the placement.

Shelter is an independent charity rather than an official government source, but can provide specialist housing information.

13. Schools & Medical Decisions

Without parental responsibility, a grandparent or other carer may encounter difficulties when making major decisions. A formal court order may make authority clearer.

Parental responsibility can include authority concerning:

• Education and school decisions
• Medical treatment
• Applying for a passport
• Day-to-day upbringing
• Finances/property belonging to the child

14. Cafcass & Cafcass Cymru

In care proceedings, a Children’s Guardian may be appointed to represent the child’s interests. In private law cases, the court may direct safeguarding checks and a welfare/child-impact assessment.

15. Safeguarding & Kinship Care

Courts and children’s services put the child’s safety and welfare at the centre of decision-making. Relevant concerns can include:

• Domestic abuse
• Neglect
• Physical, sexual or emotional abuse
• Substance misuse
• Serious mental-health difficulties affecting parenting
• Instability
• Emotional harm
• Unsafe adults or unsafe contact arrangements

16. Emergency Situations

Urgent action may be needed where a parent disappears, a child is abandoned, there is an immediate risk of harm, a child is at risk of being removed, or police/children’s services are involved.

Possible court routes can include an urgent Child Arrangements Order application, a Prohibited Steps Order or another section 8 application. There is not a separate statutory order formally called an “Emergency Child Arrangements Order”; rather, a C100 application can be asked to be dealt with urgently.

In exceptional cases the court can consider an application without notice to the other party, but strict safeguards apply. Official guidance says the applicant must explain the urgency and why notice cannot safely or practically be given.

Emergency Protection Orders, interim care orders and other public-law protection orders are normally dealt with through children’s services/local-authority safeguarding proceedings rather than as an ordinary grandparent private-law application.

17. Contact Between Child & Parents

Kinship care does not automatically mean that contact with a parent stops. Courts and professionals consider what contact is safe and beneficial for the individual child.

Arrangements can include:

• Direct face-to-face time
• Telephone or video contact
• Letters or indirect contact
• Supported contact
• Supervised contact
• Conditions or restrictions
• No direct contact where the court considers it necessary for the child’s welfare

The child’s welfare is the court’s paramount consideration when deciding Children Act section 8 applications.

18. Kinship Care During Care Proceedings

If children’s services start care proceedings, grandparents and other family members can be considered as alternative carers. This may involve:

• Initial or viability assessment
• Connected-person foster-carer assessment
• Full kinship assessment
• Special Guardianship assessment
• Family group decision-making / family group conference
• Being joined as a party to the proceedings where the court considers that necessary

19. Evidence Grandparents & Kinship Carers Should Keep

Good records can be extremely important. Useful evidence can include:

• School attendance, reports and communications
• Medical and therapy records where lawfully available
• Contact logs
• A diary/chronology of significant events
• Financial records showing costs of caring for the child
• Social-worker emails, assessments and plans
• Police reference numbers where relevant
• Evidence of the child’s history of living with you
• Evidence of appointments, routines and practical care
• Housing evidence
• Written proposals for schooling, health, family time and support

20. Can Parents Remove the Child Later?

It depends on the legal arrangement.

21. Legal Aid

Legal aid may be available in some kinship and family cases. Eligibility depends on the type of case and, in many situations, financial and merits tests.

Relevant areas can include:

• Care and public-law proceedings
• Special Guardianship Order advice/applications
• Domestic abuse and child-abuse related family cases
• Family mediation
• Cases involving serious child-protection concerns

22. Main Forms

23. Important Organisations

These support organisations are useful sources of practical help but are not a substitute for individual legal advice.

24. Common Problems Kinship Carers Face

• Lack of consistent financial support
• Delayed assessments
• Disagreement about whether the arrangement is private or local-authority arranged
• Conflict with parents
• School or medical authority issues
• Housing shortages or overcrowding
• Court fees and legal costs
• Difficulty understanding what parental responsibility allows
• Contact arrangements that are difficult or unsafe
• Emotional stress and sudden lifestyle changes
• Children affected by trauma, separation or loss
• Support dropping after a court order is made

25. Important Practical Advice

Keep Everything Documented

Save emails, school communications, medical evidence, assessment paperwork, social-worker records, benefit decisions and support plans.

Ask for Written Support Plans

Before agreeing to a long-term legal arrangement, ask for the proposed financial, therapeutic, education, contact and practical support to be set out clearly in writing.

Ask the Council These Questions

1. What is the child’s exact legal status?
2. Is the child looked after by the local authority?
3. Who currently has parental responsibility?
4. Am I being assessed as an informal carer, connected person, foster carer or prospective special guardian?
5. What financial support is available now?
6. What support would continue after a CAO or SGO?
7. Will you carry out a written support-needs assessment?
8. Can I receive independent legal advice funded by the local authority?
9. What is the proposed contact plan with parents and other family members?
10. What is the complaints process if I disagree with the assessment or support offered?

Focus on Child Welfare

Courts prioritise stability, safety, emotional wellbeing, education, the child’s needs and, where age and understanding make it appropriate, the child’s wishes and feelings.

26. Key Official Resources

27. Special Guardianship Support – Do Not Wait Until After the Order

If an SGO is being considered, ask for the proposed Special Guardianship Support Plan before the final order is made wherever possible. Check:

• Regular allowance and how it was calculated
• Whether it is means-tested
• Review dates
• One-off costs
• Therapeutic support
• Contact support/supervision
• Education support
• Travel costs
• Support for siblings
• Respite or practical help where available
• Who is responsible if the family moves to another council area

28. Therapy & Post-Order Support

In England, the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF) can fund eligible therapeutic support for certain SGO and CAO families. The scheme is accessed through the relevant local authority or regional adoption agency rather than by a family applying directly to the fund.

The Department for Education confirmed £55 million for the fund for 2026–27 and continuation into 2027–28.

29. Complaining About Children’s Services

If the dispute is about the council’s assessment, service, financial support or failure to follow its policy, ask for the decision and reasons in writing and use the relevant complaints process.

30. Wales – 2026 Special Guardianship & Kinship Reforms

31. A Simple Action Plan for a Grandparent or Relative

1. Make the child safe. If there is immediate danger, use emergency services/social care.
2. Find out the legal status. Ask who has parental responsibility and whether the child is looked after.
3. Put your offer to care in writing. If proceedings are ongoing, do this immediately.
4. Ask for an assessment. State clearly that you want to be assessed as a family/kinship option.
5. Ask what legal route is proposed. Informal arrangement, fostering, CAO, SGO or adoption all have different consequences.
6. Ask for financial and practical support before agreeing to long-term arrangements.
7. Get independent legal advice. Especially before an SGO or where care proceedings are already underway.
8. Prepare a child-focused plan. Explain schooling, health care, routines, contact, housing, support network and how you will meet the child’s emotional needs.
9. Keep a chronology and evidence file.
10. Challenge unclear decisions in writing. Ask for the legal basis, policy, reasons and complaints route.