Types of kinship care

The type of kinship care you offer can affect what you are responsible for and what decisions you’re allowed to make for the child you are caring for. Below are the different types of kinship care arrangements:

Informal kinship care 

This is when the child's parent chooses for their child to live with you. You do not have legal responsibility (called parental responsibility) but you can make everyday decisions. The council is not closely involved, and there is no court order in place.

Private foster care

This is when you have a child under 16 (or under 18 if they are disabled) lives with you for more than 28 days, and you are not a close family member. Close family means a grandparent, aunt, uncle, brother, sister or step parent by marriage. You and the child's parents must tell the council of this arrangement. We will do a short assessment to make sure the child is safe. The parents still has full responsibility but you can make everyday decisions.

You can find more information and how to contact us on our private fostering web page.

Formal kinship foster care

This is also known as family and friends foster care. This is when the council completes and assessment of you an approves you to become the child's foster carer. You will be given a fostering allowance to help you to support the child. The council shares parental responsibility with the child's parent. 

You can find more about foster care allowance on the GOV.UK website.

Kinship care with legal order

Special Guardianship order (SGO) 

This is a legal order from a family court. When you become a special guardian, the child will live with you until they are 18 years old. You share parental responsibility with the parents, but you can make most big decisions without asking them.