Kinship Care in South Gloucestershire
Keeping children connected to the people who know and love them
When parents are unable to care for their child, family members or close family friends often step forward to provide a safe, stable and loving home. This is known as kinship care.
Kinship carers can be grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, step-relatives, or close family friends. By caring for a child within their family network, kinship carers help children maintain important relationships, family connections, cultural identity and a sense of belonging.
At South Gloucestershire Council, we recognise the invaluable role kinship carers play and are committed to ensuring families can access information, advice and support when they need it.
What is Kinship Care?
Kinship care is a broad term that covers several different arrangements where a child is cared for by someone they already know and trust. The support available may vary depending on the legal arrangement in place.
Informal Kinship Care
This is when a relative or family friend cares for a child without a formal court order or local authority arrangement. The child’s parents continue to hold parental responsibility.
Kinship Foster Care (Connected Persons Foster Care)
Sometimes known as family and friends foster care, this arrangement is made when a child cannot live with their parents and is looked after by the local authority. Kinship foster carers are assessed and approved as foster carers and receive support, training and fostering allowances.
Special Guardianship Orders (SGO)
A Special Guardianship Order provides a child with a permanent home while maintaining links with their birth family. Special Guardians share parental responsibility and can make most decisions about a child’s upbringing until they reach adulthood.
Child Arrangements Orders (CAO)
A Child Arrangements Order sets out where a child will live and who is responsible for their day-to-day care. Carers are able to make routine decisions while sharing parental responsibility with the child’s parents.
Private Fostering
Private fostering applies when a child under 16 (or under 18 if disabled) is cared for by someone who is not a close relative for 28 days or more. The local authority must be informed so that advice and support can be provided.
South Gloucestershire’s Kinship Local Offer
Our Kinship Local Offer brings together information about the support, services and advice available to kinship carers across South Gloucestershire.
We believe support should be based on the needs of the child and family, rather than solely on the legal status of the arrangement.
Depending on your circumstances, support may include:
- Information and guidance about kinship care arrangements
- Assessment and support from children’s services
- Financial support and allowances where eligible
- Training and development opportunities
- Support groups and peer networks
- Education support and advice
- Therapeutic and emotional wellbeing services
- Help accessing local family services and early help provision
- Advice about legal options and permanence planning
- Signposting to specialist national organisations including Kinship UK.
View South Gloucestershire’s Kinship Local Offer.
Support for Kinship Carers
Taking on the care of a child is a significant commitment and often happens unexpectedly. We understand that kinship carers may need practical, emotional and financial support to help children thrive.
Our aim is to:
- Help children remain safely within their family network wherever possible
- Promote stability and positive outcomes for children
- Ensure carers have access to advice, guidance and training
- Connect families with local services and community support
- Celebrate the vital contribution kinship carers make to children’s lives.
Need advice or support?
If you are currently caring for a child, considering becoming a kinship carer, or would like to understand your options, we are here to help.
Visit the South Gloucestershire Kinship Care information pages.