Kinship Care

What Kinship Care is

Kinship Care is any situation in which a child is living with a friend or family member who is not their parent. Kinship Care arrangements can be temporary or long term. Some different categories of Kinship Care are listed below. You can learn about what each of these entails, and view some examples, in our draft leaflet.

• Informal Family Arrangements
• Private Fostering for children under 16 (or under 18 if disabled)
• Child Arrangements Order
• Special Guardianship
• Family and Friends (Kinship) Foster Care

Kinship Carers can include:

• A close relative of the child, for example a grandparent, brother or sister (including half-siblings)
• A close relative of the child’s sibling (on either side of the parent)
• A former step-parent or individual in a cohabitating relationship with the child’s parent
• A friend of the child, or of the child’s parent(s)
• A friend of the child’s close relative
• Professionals who have a trusted relationship with the child (such as a teacher, childminder, youth worker or former foster carer)

Types of kinship care arrangements

Kinship Care arrangements can include any of the following categories of Kinship Care. Further information, including examples and support available for each category can be found in our Kinship Care Offer leaflet, which is attached to this page.

Informal Family Arrangements

A family member or friend has chosen to take on the care of the child in agreement with the parent but does not have parental responsibility for the child.

Private Fostering

This is when a child under 16 years of age (or under 18 if disabled) lives with someone who isn’t a close relative for more than 28 days. The arrangement is made privately by the family, but the council must be informed. You can read more about this kind of arrangement on our Private Fostering webpage.

Child Arrangements Order

This is a legal Order that says the child should live with you. It gives you shared responsibility and some shared parental rights. A Child Arrangements Order (CAO) is a legal Order made by the family court that states where a child will live, who a child can spend time with and for how long. It can state when a child will spend part of the week living with or having contact with a parent or other family member. This Order usually lasts until the child reaches 18 years of age. You can apply for a Child Arrangement order without the involvement of the Local Authority.

Special Guardianship

A Special Guardianship is a legal Order which may be granted to a family member or friend, making the named person the legal guardian of the child. This Order lasts until the child turns 18 years of age and allows you as a family to live your life without visits and decisions being made by social workers. There are times when applications to the Court can be made for a Special Guardianship without the involvement of the local authority. In most cases the local authority will already be involved because there are worries about the safety of a child in their parent’s care. There are other instances where a Special Guardianship Order can be applied for: • The child may already be Looked After and their Foster Carer or another relative or friend applies for an order to provide a long-term home without lots of professionals being involved. • Relatives may apply for an order after the child has lived with them for at least one year for whatever reason this has happened.

Family and Friends (Kinship) Foster Care

This is when a child has been placed with a family member or friend by the local authority, because there are concerns about the child’s safety that cannot be managed in another way without intervention and support. The child is ‘looked after’ by the local authority and so you have an initial assessment (called a Viability assessment) before the child first comes to live with you.

If it is agreed that this the best place for the child until final decisions are made, you become ‘temporarily approved’ as a kinship foster carer (under Regulation 24 of the Care Planning and Case Review Regulations 2010). This arrangement lasts for 16 weeks, and should they need to remain with you longer, this may be extended for another 8 weeks to allow further time to make longer term decisions about where the child lives.

During this period of time, you will be fully assessed and all options will be weighed up for the child, with their best interests central to the final decision made. If it is in the child’s best interests to remain in foster care with you, either through a Care Order or voluntary agreement with their parents, then your social worker will support you to attend Fostering and Permanence Panel to seek full approval as a specific foster carer for that child.

What we expect from you as a Kinship Carer

We expect all Kinship Carers to do the following:

• Provide a safe and caring home
  Ensure the child feels secure, loved and supported in your home environment. Offer consistent emotional support, especially if the child has experienced loss or trauma.
• Support contact with parents (when safe and appropriate)
  Help the child maintain relationships with their parents if it is safe and in line with agreed contact plan, if this is relevant to the child’s situation.
• Promote the Child’s identity and culture 
  Support the child’s cultural, religious and linguistic identity. Help maintain connections with their heritage and community
• Promote school attendance
  Make sure the child attends school every day and is supported in their education.
• Look after the child’s health
  Arrange and attend appointments with the GP, dentist and optician as needed.
• Work with the social workers
  If a social worker is involved in your situation, we encourage you to be open and honest with them. Working together can help ensure that the needs of the child are fully understood and supported. We also recognise that going through an assessment process can be a difficult and sometimes intrusive experience, and we do our best to approach this with sensitivity, respect and support throughout.
• Financial responsibility and transparency
  Use any financial support for the benefit of the child. Let the Local Authority know of any changes in circumstances that may affect support eligibility.
• Access and use support services
  Engage with support services offered through the Local Authority's “Kinship care offer”. Attend training, support groups or workshops where available.

Our Statement of Intent

Our Core Philosophy: Island Continuity

The Council of the Isles of Scilly believes that every child has a right to grow up within their family network, surrounded by their community, culture, and the unique environment of the islands. Placing a child in mainland foster care or residential placements not only severs vital family ties but also removes them from their island identity. Therefore, this Council commits to a "whatever it takes" approach to support kinship arrangements, ensuring that financial or logistical barriers never dictate whether a child can remain on the islands.

The Principle of Absolute Discretion

This document supersedes traditional, rigid eligibility frameworks. We recognise that no two kinship arrangements on the islands look alike.

Our Discretionary Mandate: Children’s Services, in partnership with our shared-service colleagues at Cornwall Council, hold the delegated authority to deploy financial resources creatively, rapidly, and flexibly. If a budget expenditure directly prevents a child from entering formal mainland care or sustains a vulnerable kinship placement, it is deemed an authorised and necessary use of funds.

Governance: Agility Over Bureaucracy

To ensure "flexible" doesn’t mean "slow," the approval process for exceptional discretionary expenditure under this Statement of Intent will bypass lengthy panel reviews:

• Urgent Expenditure (Up to £500)
  Can be authorised immediately by the Team Manager/Lead Social Worker to resolve an immediate crisis (e.g., emergency travel or bed purchasing).
• Strategic Expenditure (Over £500)
  Authorised via a fast-tracked, 24-hour virtual sign-off between the Head of Service and the Section 151 Officer, using the business case that the expenditure prevents a significantly more expensive mainland residential placement.

Framework of Flexible Support (Examples of Discretionary Funding)

While support is determined on a case-by-case basis, our teams are fully empowered to fund interventions across four critical pillars:

The Island Logistics & Travel Guarantee
We will fund whatever travel is necessary to keep a family connected and healthy. This includes, but is not limited to:

• Fully funded open-return travel (Skybus, Scillonian III, or off-island jetboats) and mainland accommodation for carers and children for therapeutic, medical, or legal appointments.
• Funded travel for mainland family members to visit the islands if it supports the stability of the kinship placement.

Housing and Space Adaptation Creative Funds
Physical space should never be the reason a child leaves the islands. We will utilise discretionary capital to:

• Fund minor property adaptations, modular furniture, or partition walls to create privacy for children in small island homes.
• Cover emergency storage costs or removal fees if a family needs to downsize or upsize quickly to accommodate a child.
• Provide direct subsidies or emergency retainers to secure appropriate local housing if space becomes a critical safeguarding issue.

The "Island Cost of Living" Uplift
Recognising the hyper-inflation of goods and freight charges to the islands, our emergency setup grants are entirely discretionary. Teams can authorise payments for:

• Direct purchasing and shipping of essential white goods, tech for school, or bedroom furniture from the mainland.
• Bespoke, non-means-tested weekly stipends to offset exceptional utility or food costs during the initial stabilisation phase of a placement.

Bespoke Education & Transition Wraparound

We will fund tailored support to ensure the child thrives at the Five Islands Academy or during mainland transitions, including:

• Funding extra-curricular island activities, sports, or equipment to ensure the child remains deeply integrated into island peer groups.
• Bespoke funding packages for the post-16 mainland education transition, covering extra flights home during term breaks to combat homesickness and isolation.

Contact us

If you have any questions about Kinship Care, please call 0300 1234 105 (option 5) or email adminchildrenservices@scilly.gov.uk