Informal Kinship with Looked after Child status

[lightlycultured]

Hi all.

Long story short, my sister passed away suddenly following a medical incident, leaving a 4 year old behind with no father (not on birth certificate or involved with her). I took niece from the flat my sister was dead in on that awful day, social work took zero involvement from there on the basis I chose to do that and argue a private family arrangement.

I argued my case, I have my own child with full time nursery fees and cannot stretch myself any further etc but love niece dearly. I have just been told I will be offered informal kinship but niece will have the looked after child status. I am told the difference is that niece will get financial support until she is 16, rather than 18. They will pay up to £1000 for legal fees.

Obviously I now have a high level of distrust for social work as had to make waves to get to this stage. Should I now trust this arrangement or be hesitant about anything? I really want to trust this and try move forward with niece integrated fully into family now of course.

Where in the UK are you? Response really depends on which nation and which legislation is at play. I’m very sorry for your loss.

Hi. This is in Scotland. Thank you.

There are organisations which specialise in kinship care. Google for this in Scotland and give them a ring x

Ok, I’m a social worker in Scotland. If the kinship arrangement is informal, your niece won’t be a looked after child. Looked after children are children where a compulsory supervision order is in place through the children’s hearing. There’s no need for a compulsory supervision order because you have agreed to your niece living with you and there’s a principle of not seeking a legal order unless it’s needed.

Looked after status is important because it gives the local authority corporate parenting responsibilities for your niece, which can be a double edged sword in that they have particular duties to her, but that means continued professional involvement which isn’t always a good thing. It does also mean your nice would be considered care experienced which brings a range of supports and funding options well into adulthood, eg if she were to go on to university. Informal kinship arrangements do not constitute being care experienced even though the actual living arrangements may be identical.

In terms of funding the Scottish government have published rates for kinship carers up to age 18, which means funding is available in some circumstances. If she’s looked after, she’s entitled to continued care to age 21 which can include funding post 16, if she’s not looked after kinship rates should continue to age 18.

Im happy to answer any questions, but I’d be very clear about the legal status of your niece before agreeing anything, and have a clear commitment to funding in line with Scottish government guidance as a minimum.

@lightlycultured

What an awful loss for you and your niece.
I hope someone is taking care of you too.
No advice I'm afraid, just wanted to send some support.
Jellycats is your woman for Scotland, she will be back.

Hi. Thanks for replying. I don’t understand why they are insisting it’s a family arrangement though. They closed the case almost immediately, when I phoned for help and guidance they wouldn’t entertain me. It took a TAC meeting and an email saying I can’t take her long term due to finances to get to this stage. When her mother died, there was no-one with parental responsibility for the child. She was alone with her dead body for 2 days. Social works duty kicked in when they became aware no one had parental responsibility. That duty can arise before they take any steps so niece should have been ‘looked after’ from this point, regardless of whether they had explicitly placed her with me? A court judgement (Salford City Council vs W, X, Y, and Z) has made clear that “an offer or action by a relative or friend to care for the child after the duty [to look after the child] has arisen will not prevent the child being 'looked after' for the purposes of the Children Act 1989”.

I feel like I’m left holding the baby after trying to shield her from further trauma, to the detriment of my own family and child.

I am quite confused about the promise of financial help until she is 16, and funding up to £1000 for legal aid. I feel like I am being tricked to go for a residency order so they can wash their hands of this. Am I right to be wary of this?

So the court judgment relates to English legislation, the Scottish position re children and childcare is completely different. I’d need to look at the case law to see if it applies north of the border because the Children Act 1989 doesn’t apply in Scotland but sometimes general principles do cross borders.

In Scotland a child is considered looked after if they have been in the care of the local authority for 24 hours or more. It doesn’t sound like your niece was in local authority care before you took her in, which is where the debate comes from. Kinship care that’s arranged privately, or in your case you stepped in, is a private family arrangement because it’s not the result of an arrangement with social work or ordered by the children’s hearing.

At the moment it sounds like no one still has parental rights and responsibilities for her. They’ll will want a residence order (usually called a custody order in Scotland) to secure you having parental rights and responsibilities. If that isn’t secured or you don’t want to assume parental rights, she will become looked after in that the local authority will become her corporate parent. They can do this and she can still live with you as a looked after child. Similarly you could adopt your niece, but the local authority won’t continue to provide funding.

As things stand they’ll offer you financial support because it’s much better for your niece to be with family, and it’s much cheaper to have a kinship arrangement than for them to find a foster placement pending permanency, and legally they’ll find it very hard to justify not paying you a kinship allowance. You need good legal advice hence them offering you some money towards legal costs - be wary though cos you may find your costs exceed what they’re offering. I’d speak to a couple of lawyers, get an estimate of costs and negotiate from there.

A couple of places for more information - try Adoption, Fostering & Kinship Care Scotland for advice, and have a look at The Promise which is the findings of the Independent Care Review and sets some high standards for children who can’t live with their family of origin. I hope that all makes sense but give me a shout if I can help.

This is really good information - thanks for taking the time the time to clear some things up for me!

You’re very welcome. Can I also say @lightlycultured the situation is horrific for your niece, but it’s also horrific for you. I can’t imagine how aware it was to remove your niece in such circumstances.

Given that, don’t feel pressured into making quick decisions here, social work will want things agreed quickly, so they don’t need to be involved. That’s no bad thing in itself but there’s no real urgency here. Your niece is safe in your care for now, social work can provide funding without an order being in place at least in the immediate term, you have parental rights so far as her day to day care goes (because she’s in your care).

What happens longer term, whether you take residence or whatever doesn’t need to be decided right now. Have a look at all the options and think about what will be right for you, your child and your niece.

Thanks for your kindness. You’ve been more helpful than any other social worker I’ve managed to speak to x