Proposal to allocate all children in kinship care automatically with ‘Child in Need’ status a “significant concern”: ADCS

The organisation warned that although it strongly supports improving access to support for kinship children and carers, it is not persuaded that “legal status alone should determine eligibility for statutory assessment and intervention into family life”.

In its response to the Law Commission consultation on Kinship Care, ADCS observed: “Many kinship arrangements are safe, stable and effective and meet children's needs. Automatic Child in Need status would lead to unnecessary assessments and expectations of local authority oversight where there are no identified welfare concerns.

“This could place additional pressure on already stretched services while potentially introducing statutory scrutiny into private family arrangements that are functioning well. ADCS questions whether this is a good use of capacity and resource.”

Responding to other aspects of the consultation, the Association welcomed the proposals to better recognise kinship care as a “distinct form of care and/ or permanence”, alongside the recognition that kinship care and reunification do not necessarily need to be viewed as “competing outcomes”.

It welcomed the proposal for a new Kinship Care Order (KCO), noting that the flexibility of the proposed order could provide a more appropriate legal framework for children living in complex kinship arrangements, and could allow different levels of parental involvement to be recognised.

ADCS said: “There is potential for the KCO to enable more kinship families to move away from the fostering process where that is appropriate. This could be particularly beneficial in areas where fostering panel business is heavily dominated by kinship matters and means families may not have to go through the same checks as those who are strangers to the child. A distinct kinship pathway could provide a more proportionate and family-focused process for relatives stepping forward to care.”

The Association added however that “care must be taken” to ensure that KCOs do not add “another layer of complexity”, and called for greater clarity on how KCOs would differ from Special Guardianship Orders and Child Arrangements Orders, when each order would be appropriate, and how KCOs would operate alongside existing orders and proceedings.

The full consultation response, published on 16 October, can be seen here.

Lottie Winson