Family and Friends Placement | Court orders and pre-proceedings

Contents

‘When problems escalate and children cannot live safely with their parents, local authorities should seek to place children with suitable wider family members where it is safe to do so.’¹

Family and friends placements can also be known as kinship care.

What you need to know

If children cannot remain with their birth parents, the local authority has a duty to consider in the first instance, placement with family or friends
This requirement is enshrined in S.22C(7) of The Children Act 1989, Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance and Children and Families Act 2014
Family group conferencing can help to identify who, if anyone, is best placed to care for a child within the extended family and therefore who ought to be assessed
Some parents may have distanced themselves from extended family members because of their own childhood histories of abuse. Any risks need to be carefully explored
Kinship carers are likely to need practical, emotional and financial support from the local authority in caring for children and managing contact
The local authority must have a publicly-available family and friends policy
Family members/others who wish to be assessed to care for a child must be assessed prior to proceedings whenever possible. The court will generally expect such potential carers to be identified by the time of the first hearing in order to avoid delay for the child
It is common for several family members to be put forward as potential carers for a child. In most local authorities initial family and friends assessments are used to determine which family members are a potential realistic option to care for the child. These are commonly known as viability assessments.

Family and friends care, also known as kinship care, can include:

formal placements where looked after children are placed with relatives or friends who have been approved as formal kinship foster carers by Children’s Services
informal arrangements for children’s full-time care made between a parent and a relative or friend
in some cases family and friends carers can also apply for a Special Guardianship Order (SGO).

References

1 Department for Education (2014) Statutory Guidance on Court Orders and Pre-Proceedings (p. 15)

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Background

Government statistics on the numbers of children in formal kinship care show that, at 31 March 2013, 11 per cent of children (over 7,000) looked after in England were fostered by a relative or friend². The majority of children formally placed in kinship care live with grandparents (62%) with just under a quarter living with aunts and uncles³. More recent research has highlighted the role of siblings carers revealing that 38% of all children living with family and friends carers are cared for by sibling⁴. These figures do not apply to children living in informal arrangements. Data from the 2001 census suggests that of the 173,200 children living in kinship care, the majority (90%) did so through informal arrangements⁴.

Children placed with family and friends carers have usually suffered multiple adversities prior to being placed. The level of adversity is generally equal to that experienced by children being cared for by unrelated foster carers. The four main reasons for children living with kin carers are:

parental drugs or alcohol misuse (60%)
abuse or neglect (59%)
parental mental illness (28%)
domestic violence (27%)⁵.

References

Department for Education (2013) Children looked after in England year ending 31 March 2013
Lutman ET AL (2009) Placement stability for children in kinship care: A long-term follow-up of children placed in kinship care through care proceedings. Adoption and Fostering, 33(3).
Nandy ET AL (2011) Spotlight on kinship care
Farmer and Moyers (2008) Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

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Outcomes

Outcomes for children in kinship placements

Kinship care can be a positive option for children who are unable to live with their birth parents:

it builds on existing relationships
it may enable children to stay in the same geographical area
it is less threatening to a child’s sense of belonging to a family
it can reduce the trauma associated with moving to an unknown family
it may make it easier to keep siblings together⁶.

Children placed in kinship care generally do as well or better than children in unrelated foster care⁷. In one study, 72% of kinship placements were either continuing or had ended having lasted as long as needed; 28% had ended prematurely and 16% were continuing but vulnerable to disruption. This compares to an average rate of disruption for unrelated foster care of around 43 per cent⁸ .

Disruption and the quality of care vary across local authorities, just as the level and quality of support offered to kinship carers varies significantly between local authorities. For example, one study found that in one local authority, 49% of kin placements were judged to be of poor quality compared to just 8% in another. There are also significant differences in disruption rates between authorities⁹.

Positive outcomes for children placed in kinship care are more likely when:

the child is placed with kinship carers at an early age
the child has few difficulties when placed
the child has lived with the carer before
the carer instigates the placement
the carer is a grandparent
children are placed with their siblings.

References

Sinclair (2005) Fostering Now: Messages from research.
Selwyn ET AL (2013) The poor relations? School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol.
Hunt ET AL (2008) Keeping Them in the Family: Outcomes for children placed in kinship care through care proceedings.
Farmer (2010) What factors relate to good placement outcomes in kinship care? British Journal of Social Work, 40, 426-444.

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Becoming a kinship carer

There is evidence that kinship carers generally have a high level of involvement with the children prior to pre-proceedings and many demonstrate their ability to put the children first by reporting their concerns to the local authority. However, research suggests that there is little evidence of any contribution by the relatives to formal local authority decision-making¹⁰. The need to involve wider family members in decision-making and pre-proceedings planning where there are child protection or welfare concerns is set out in Statutory Guidance on Court Orders and Pre-Proceedings (page 16, para 24).

Family group conferences (FGCs) can be an effective way of engaging family members at an early stage of the process and it may:

facilitate placement within the extended family¹¹
help in identifying family members who wish to be assessed to care for a child
avoid a proliferation of multiple assessments.

However, it is not always appropriate to use FGC, for example where there is history of domestic violence.

One study found that most kinship placements were initiated by the relatives or friends themselves (86%) and very few by social workers (4%)¹². This is consistent with more recent research which found that some carers and professionals believe that local authorities are often reluctant to approve kinship carers as foster carers, or to allow them to remain so for long.¹³

At times there is pressure on carers to apply for a Residence Order or a Special Guardianship Order (SGOs), thereby removing children’s looked after status (and the support associated with this) and potentially reducing costs to the public purse¹⁴. Kinship carers often feel disempowered by lack of knowledge about the legal options and their implications for support. They may also be afraid to ask questions because they do not want to appear difficult, fear that they may lose the child, or fear that they will be seen as only doing it for the money¹⁵. Carers should be provided with information, advice and advocacy to navigate legal, benefits, education and social service systems.

References

Hunt ET AL (2008) Keeping Them in the Family: Outcomes for children placed in kinship care through care proceedings.
Doolan and Nixon (2003) The importance of kinship care.
Farmer and Moyers (2008) Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Hunt and Waterhouse (2012) Understanding family and friends care: the relationship between need, support and legal status – Carers’ experiences Understanding family and friends care.
Farmer and Moyers (2008) Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Hunt and Waterhouse (2012) Understanding family and friends care: the relationship between need, support and legal status – Carers’ experiences Understanding family and friends care.

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Assessment of kinship carers

The quality of assessment of formal kinship carers is key in terms of positive placement outcomes¹⁶. However, one research study on the impact of the revised PLO found that, because of increased pressure on local authorities to find suitable carers at the outset of proceedings, the time to fully assess and prepare carers may be limited¹⁷.

Key factors for practice in assessment of kinship carers are:

quality of the assessment for parenting capacity. Although many kinship carers acknowledge the necessity of assessment, they resent the attention given to risk. However, placements tend to be more stable when carers have been assessed as foster carers or where there had been a pre-placement assessment¹⁸
avoiding the assessment of potential kinship carers sequentially. This may be because family members came forward one after the other and social workers want to check the suitability of each relative before moving on to the next assessment. In one study, 81 extended family members were assessed for 61 children; 21 children were placed with kin (around 20% of the sample)¹⁹
the suitability of family members/others as potential carers should be established at the pre-proceedings stage perhaps through a Family Group Conference. Evidence to show that all suitable candidates as kinship carers have been assessed should be concise, robust, analytical and balanced. This would mitigate the introduction late in proceedings of distant relatives with no real connection to the child²⁰.

Viability assessments

In most local authorities, some form of initial family and friends care assessment is used to determine which members of a child’s family and friends network are a potentially realistic option to care for that child and should therefore be subject to a full assessment as a potential carer. This initial assessment is not to determine whether an individual is ‘viable’ but whether it is a potentially ‘viable’ placement for a specific child. These are commonly called ‘viability assessments’ and can in practice be used to explore potentially viable options for a child to be raised within their family network.

At whatever stage family viability assessments are undertaken (pre-proceedings or during court) there are now toolkits available to assist social workers with assessment. Current models include The Family Rights Group Good practice Guide and suggested templates for viability assessments. This new guidance, launched in February, 2017, is endorsed by the ADCS, Family Justice Council, Cafcass, Catch22, Coram BAAF, Coram Chambers, Coram Children’s Legal Centre, Association of Lawyers for Children, Family Action, Grandparents Plus, Kinship Carers UK, Kinship Care Alliance, Principal SW Network, The Fostering Network, The Kinship ‘Foster Carers’ Group and the London Borough of Islington. In addition this practice guidance was recommended to all those using the family court by Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales.

Best Practice Guidance available to download at www.frg.org.uk and can be downloaded here.

References

Hunt ET AL (2008) Keeping Them in the Family: Outcomes for children placed in kinship care through care proceedings.
Harvey ET AL (2014) Action Research to explore the implementation and early impacts of the revised Public Law Outline
Hunt ET AL (2008) Keeping Them in the Family: Outcomes for children placed in kinship care through care proceedings.
Selwyn ET AL (2010) Pathways to Permanence for Black, Asian and Mixed Ethnicity Children. London: BAAF
Argent (2009) What’s the problem with kinship care? Adoption and Fostering, 33 (3), 6-14.

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Support for kinship carers

Family and Friends Care: Statutory Guidance sets out the framework for the provision of support to family and friends carers, regardless of whether children are looked after or not. However, research suggests that kinship carers (formal and informal) are less likely to receive support services than unrelated foster carers, even when they are approved as foster carers²¹.

An appropriate level of support is especially important as kinship carers are often faced with challenges including:

limited financial and material resources, with around three-quarters experiencing financial difficulties²²
poor health and may also have a disability
often dealing with children with very challenging behaviour.

Despite these challenges, kinship carers show a strong commitment to the children and tend to persevere in looking after children with high levels of difficulty beyond the point at which non-kin carers would do so²³.

This commitment is a key factor in terms of the stability of the placement, but it also means that many kinship carers continue to care for a child when they are under considerable strain, which can result in a poor quality placement²⁴. A recent report by the Local Government Ombudsman has warned that some local authorities are failing to provide kinship carers with the support they are entitled to. The report also highlights cases of children being placed at ‘increased risk’ because local authorities failed to properly assess the suitability of a family or friend placement²⁵

References

Hunt and Waterhouse (2012) Understanding family and friends care: the relationship between need, support and legal status – Carers’ experiences Understanding family and friends care
Nandy ET AL (2011) Spotlight on kinship care.
Farmer (2010) What factors relate to good placement outcomes in kinship care? British Journal of Social Work, 40, 426-444.
Farmer and Moyers (2008) Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family and Friends Placements. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Local Government Ombudsman (2013) Family values: Council services to family and friends who care for others’ children. Local Government Ombudsman

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Learning resources

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Resources for foster carers

Resources for foster carers

Skills to foster assessment: Family and friends foster care (Fostering Network)

Family and friends foster care: All you need to know (Fostering Network)

Initial family and friends care assessment: a good practice guide (Family Rights Group)
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Resources for professionals

Resources for professionals

Skills to foster assessment: Family and friends foster care (Fostering Network)

Initial family and friends care assessment: a good practice guide (Family Rights Group)

Resources for social workers to support family group conference planning and provision

Family Rights Group offers support to Family Group Conference projects and services:

FRG run the national Family Group Conference network, which offers regular opportunities for networking, expert workshops, newsletters, a practitioner discussion board and more
FRG led the development of family group conference standards, and with the FGC Network are rolling out an accreditation scheme for family group conference services
FRG run an extensive training and events programme for family group conference co-ordinators and projects, and have pioneered an accredited post graduate certificate for co-ordinators with the University of Chester.

To find out contact details about the local family group conference service visit the FGC projects section of the FRG website, which gives contact details of local family group conference projects. Local regional FGC groups which are listed on the FGC projects section may be able to advise as to where you can access this.

FRG also offers training and consultancy to local authorities in England who want to set up a sustainable family group conference service.

FRG runs regular training courses for FGCs

You can sign up for the FRG newsletter and to be kept informed of all FRG training and events.

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Resources for carers

Resources for carers

Family and friends foster care: All you need to know (Fostering Network)

The DfE has produced an information leaflet (link to: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/family-and-friends-carers-information-leaflet) for professionals to use with family and friends carers, providing information on support and services available for carers.

Information is also available on Grandparents Plus and from the Grandparents Association.

Factsheets from the Family Rights Group:

18. DIY Child Arrangements Orders: information for family and friends carers

19. DIY Special Guardianship Orders: information for family and friends carers

21. Support for relatives and friends who are looking after someone else’s child

22. Family and friends care: becoming a foster carer

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Resources for parents

Resources for parents

Family Rights Group is a charity in England and Wales that advises families whose children are involved with or need children’s services because of welfare needs or concerns. FRG promote policies and practices, including family group conferences that help children to be raised safely and securely within their families, and campaign for effective support to assist family and friends carers, including grandparents who are raising children that cannot live at home.

Resources for parents and families and friends

These 26 Advice Sheets contain detailed information for families: they can all be found at the Family Rights Group as downloadable PDF's.

These are aimed at families, but will be helpful for professionals to support discussions with families.

Relevant advice sheets include the following:

9. Child protection procedures

15. Care (and related) proceedings

There is also information on parental advocacy.

All parents can get (and give) support to others’ in similar situations by visiting FRG’s discussion forum for parents.

An advisor is available for more in-depth conversation at FRG’s advice line 0808 801 0366, opening hours Monday - Friday 9.30am - 3.00pm excluding Bank Holidays.

Video

Family Rights Group has produced films for families to help ‘demystify’ the child welfare system.

Go to the relevant films to view fictionalised cases which show what happens when a child protection conference is held and similarly when a family group conference takes place
There are also filmed interviews with professionals about their role in the child protection process and with family members and FGC coordinators about their experience of a family group conference
These films can be used as preparation for participating in a family group conference.

For detailed information about the family group conference process see: family group conference advice sheet.

Independent advocacy and advice

FRG provides independent advocacy and parents/carers can commission advocacy from FRG.

The Coram Children’s Legal Centre Child Law Advice Line provides free legal advice and information on all aspects family, child and education law affecting children and families’

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These exercises aim to help you embed knowledge in this area. A range of different formats have been used, and most can be used individually or in team learning. Discussing your learning with your supervisor will help to ensure it informs your practice.

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