Placements with Kinship Carers

1. Introduction

A kinship carer can be a relative, friend or any other person with a prior connection with a child/young person who is looked after by the local authority. This includes grandparents, aunts and uncles, adult siblings, other adult family members friends, or someone who has known the child in a professional capacity such as a teacher or youth worker.

When a prospective kinship carer has been identified as being in a position to care for a child who is in the care of Kent County Council, they must be approved as a foster carer for that child. A Family Group Conference is a useful way to identify prospective kinship carers. The assessment and approval process for kinship carers covers the same areas as for any other non-related foster carer; other than the timescales for the assessment when a child is already placed.

2. Planned Placements

Wherever possible, full approval as a kinship foster carer should be made before the child is placed with them. However, if full approval cannot be gained in the child's timeframe then the child may only be placed following a temporary assessment and temporary approval (see Section 3, Placements in Exceptional and Unforeseen Circumstances). See Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Connected Person Flowchart for Child Already in Care and Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Decision for Fostering Regulation 24 Approval Flowchart for Child Placed in Exceptional and Unforeseen Circumstances Only (Forms/Practice Guidance).

The child/young person's wishes and feelings about any proposed placement should be sought and taken into account. If at all possible, the child/young person should be given an opportunity to visit the family member or friend being assessed as a kinship foster carer before any decision to place the child with them is finalised.

Arrangements to assess the prospective kinship foster carer for a planned placement must be agreed by the service manager responsible for the child and the independent reviewing officer consulted.

The Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Kinship Assessment Referral form in Forms on the child’s file must be completed by the child's social worker and authorised by the team manager (to evidence it has been agreed that the assessment should go ahead) and forwarded to the Kinship Assessment Team worktray.

The Kinship Assessment Team should not receive multiple referrals for the same child. The child's social worker must undertake a scoping exercise to identify the two most viable families to meet the needs of the individual child(ren) young person(s)  to determine who has the greatest potential to meet both the child's needs and satisfy the fostering standards. A consultation with the Kinship Assessment Team Manager can be agreed to facilitate this.

The Kinship Assessment Team will then undertake a viability assessment to help determine which family is in the best position to meet all requirements. A discussion will then be held with the child’s social worker for a decision to be made about which family will be approached for the full assessment. Once the decision has been made the Kinship Assessment Team will then  initiate the completion and processing of enhanced disclosure forms (DBS checks) on all persons in the potential carer’s home aged 16 years or over as well as the multi-agency statutory check form (SS472). The Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Full Fostering Approval assessment (Forms/Practice Guidance) of the prospective kinship foster carers is completed jointly by the child's social worker and the assessing kinship social worker.

3. Placements in Exceptional and Unforeseen Circumstances

Whenever possible the full fostering assessment and approval of a kinship foster carer to the child must take place before placement.

However, in exceptional and unforeseen circumstances, when an immediate placement of a child with a kinship carer is necessary, before the full assessment can be done, it is possible under regulation 24(1) of the Children Act 1989 Guidance and Regulations - Volume 2: Care Planning, Placement and Case Review for the local authority to grant temporary approval for the kinship carer to be the child's foster carer.

If the threshold to accommodate has been met and the Local Authority have been involved in the arrangements for the child to be cared for by a relative or friend this is a kinship arrangement and requires Temporary Approval prior to the child being placed.

If the Local Authority has not been involved in the arrangements and an assessment under S17 Children Act 1989 has taken place, then this is not a  kinship fostering arrangement and requires no further involvement.

This temporary approval can last for up to 16 weeks and in exceptional cases it can be extended by a further 8 weeks. During this time all the work necessary to complete the Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and full fostering approval assessment (Forms/Practice Guidance), to determine suitability to be the child's foster carer and establish full approval must take place.

It is the child's social worker's responsibility to request the viability assessment to be completed by the Kinship Assessment Team by completing the Kinship Assessment Referral form on the child’s file in Liberi.

When seeking temporary approval the child's social worker must scope all friends and family who are able and willing to care for the child and make every effort to ensure that the chosen kinship carer:

• Is likely to meet the standards for foster carers in all respects (apart from accommodation and literacy where there is some discretion;
• Is likely to meet the higher standard in relation to safe care.

The The referral form signed by the relevant team manager should be immediately sent to the Kinship Assessment worktray on Liberi to request a Regulation 24 assessment and subsequently the Full Fostering Approval assessment if positive (Forms/Practice Guidance). Once the VA is completed the child’s social worker and team manager then need to confirm with the Kinship Assessment team that they want the temp approval agreed and a full assessment started.

The Nominated Officers agreeing the temporary approval of a child's placement with a kinship carer are the Heads of Fostering and the Corporate Parenting Services Assistant Director.

If you wish to consult with a Kinship Fostering Assessment Team Manager then please contact the relevant Service on 03000 419106.

A referral to the Access to Resources Panel  should be completed to request a Kinship Assessment placement and initiate the Child Looked After status on Liberi.

The immediate Placement Agreement (Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Appendix A: Initial Connected Person Assessment – Agreement) must be signed by the kinship foster carer being given temporary approval and the Child's Social Worker when the child is placed and then sent to the Kinship Assessment Team Manager so that it can  be placed on both the Child’s and kinship foster carers’ Liberi case file.

Once temporary approval for up to 16 weeks has been authorised the Kinship Assessment Team Manager will allocate for a full fostering assessment to be completed and book a fostering panel date. The Fostering Assessment Team will initiate an enhanced Disclosure form (DBS checks) on all persons in the home who are 17 years or over, along with the multi-agency statutory check form (SS472).

The child's social worker needs to inform the IRO and update the Care Plan / Pathway Plan. The child’s social worker must create a new placement plan for the Kinship fostering arrangement and send to TPS who then send to the Kinship Assessment tray on Liberi.

The Placement Planning Meeting should be completed within the statutory 5 days from the date the child is placed.

If the assessment fails to meet the deadline for approval at the foster panel within 16 weeks of placement or the decision is deferred pending further work an extension period of up to 8 weeks can be granted. The Authorisation for continued approval (Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Appendix B: Initial Connected Person Assessment – Extension) should be presented to the fostering panel. The panel minutes and recommendation should preferably be sent to the original Nominated Officer who agreed temporary approval for a decision.

Authorisation for continued approval (Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Appendix B: Initial Connected Person Assessment – Extension) is only intended to be used in exceptional circumstances. Refusal of extension will lead to the child being moved from the placement immediately.

If the child's temporary placement with the kinship foster carer has exceeded the maximum 24 weeks without decision for full approval the assessing Kinship Fostering Social Worker completes the Initial Kinship Foster Carer Assessment Placement Outside of Regulations form (Forms/Practice Guidance) for it to be submitted, following panel, to the Assistant Director for Corporate Parenting to make a Best Interest decision .

The Assistant Director must give permission for the child to remain in an unregulated placement and record the reasons why this would be in the child's best interest.

Once all information has been obtained at the end of the assessment and the carer has returned to panel, if the kinship carer has not been approved as a foster carer, then the child/young person must be moved from the placement.

During the time the child is placed with a kinship foster carer under temporary approval, the child must be visited by a social worker at least once a week prior to their initial statutory Child In Care Review and following this no less than every 4 weeks. The fostering social worker will undertake statutory supervision with the kinship foster carer.

When Permanency Plan for the child is a Special Guardianship Order (SGO)

If the Local Authority has obtained Section 20 agreement and the child has been placed with a relative or friend (Kinship carers) with a permanency plan for them to obtain a Special Guardianship Order (SGO) the placement must follow the Regulation 24 process to ensure it is regulated prior to an SGO being granted. The assessment must be completed jointly by the fostering social worker and child's social worker. The fostering social worker is the lead and provides supervision to the kinship carers.

Submission of the court report for the SGO remains the responsibility of the child's social worker even though this is jointly completed with a kinship fostering assessment social worker. Regardless of the timescale for completion of the SGO a full kinship foster carer approval assessment should continue to be completed to ensure the placement remains regulated.

4. The Assessment of Kinship foster carers

Assessments of Kinship carers as family and friend foster carers (the full assessment) must be carried out jointly by the child's social worker and a fostering kinship social worker from the Kinship Assessment Team. This is because the assessment involves the child's social worker undertaking a risk assessment and identifying the child's specific needs, and the fostering social worker assessing the kinship carer’s ability to meet those needs as a family/friend foster carer. The Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and KCC Kinship Foster Carer Full Approval Assessment of Connected Persons as Foster Carers (Forms/Practice Guidance) should be used to write up the assessment. See Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Flowchart for Child Already in Care and Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Decision for Fostering Regulation 24 Approval Flowchart for Child Placed in Exceptional and Unforeseen Circumstances Only (Forms/Practice Guidance).

Schedule 4 of the Children Act 1989 regulations outlines the matters that must be taken into account when assessing the suitability of a kinship foster carer to care for the child. 

Additional guidance is also provided under Chapter 5 of the Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities (DfE 2010).

Once the assessment has been completed the approval report will be presented jointly by the child's social worker and fostering social worker to the Fostering Panel to consider the carer's approval. The Agency Decision Maker makes a decision on Fostering Approvals (on the basis of recommendations of the Fostering Panel).

If a kinship carer is approved prior to the child being placed then the child can be placed in a planned way. The Placement Planning meeting should be undertaken prior to the child being placed.

If the Decision Maker's decision is not to approve the relative or friend as a kinship foster carer, representation can be made back to the Fostering Panel or the Independent Review Mechanism who will make a further recommendation prior to the Agency Decision Maker making a final decision.

The Kent Fostering Service Statement of Purpose and Policy sets out details of the panel process.

Appendices

Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Appendix A: Initial Connected Person Assessment – Agreement

Permanency Planning Meetings Procedure and Appendix B: Initial Connected Person Assessment – Extension