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North Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership

Kinship care

Sometimes children and young people experience issues within their birth family and may no longer be able to live at home. If this happens, we can consider whether the children and young people could live with other family members.

Kinship care can be time limited or long term.

There are two types of kinship care:

  • Formal - children are ‘looked after’ and placed with relatives or people who know them, often as a result of a children’s hearing or court order
  • Informal - children are looked after by relatives, often many informal care arrangements are unknown to statutory services

A kinship carer is defined as "a person who is related to the child (through blood, marriage or civil partnership) or a person with whom the child has a pre-existing relationship" (Looked After (Scotland) Regulations 2009).

We support kinship carers as per the principles set out in Part 13 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

Kinship assessments

Kinship care assessments are a statutory requirement for North Ayrshire Health & Social Care Partnership.

The assessment process aims to determine if kinship carers have the capacity and ability to:

  • meet the child's specific needs
  • ensure the child's safety and wellbeing

Kinship care assessments differ from foster care assessments in the following ways:

  • they consider the pre-existing relationship between the child, family, and carer
  • the carers are being assessed to care for a specific child or children
  • the carer is usually identified by the child or their family

Objectives

The objectives of the assessment are to:

  • gather relevant information to approve or reject the caregivers
  • identify any risk factors within the household
  • make an informed decision about the potential strengths and weaknesses of the placement
  • determine who the primary carer will be
  • identify any necessary supports to ensure the success of the placement

How it works

Assessments are carried out by the Kinship Care team.

The assessment requires the assessing worker to conduct several home visits in order to gather information for the kinship assessment report. This report is then presented at the Kinship Panel.

The panel decides on:

  • whether the carer is approved
  • their ability to meet the needs of the specific children in their care

Information and checks

The assessment process includes the following checks:

  • Protection of Vulnerable Scheme applications (Kinship Carers)
  • Disclosure checks on all adults within the household
  • Health checks
  • Local authority checks (authorities where you were previously resident)
  • Pet assessments (if applicable)
  • References
  • Health and safety assessment of the home environment

It considers the following background information:

  • upbringing
  • family background
  • employment
  • education
  • relationships
  • lifestyle
  • home environment
  • health
  • previous parenting
  • current or previous involvement with social services or other agencies

How to apply for kinship care assistance

Some kinship carers are entitled to a weekly kinship allowance. If you are seeking financial assistance, you should apply to North Ayrshire Council. You can find out more about the process by speaking to the Families for Children team or your social worker.

Additionally, prospective kinship carers may be eligible for financial support towards the cost of an application for a kinship care order. This is when you are applying for - or are considering applying for - a kinship care order in relation to a child under the age of 16 who was previously looked after or is at risk of becoming looked after.

We will notify you around the decision to your application - and the reasons for this decision - as soon as we can.

Kinship care assistance eligibility

There are two main criteria in relation to qualifying for kinship care assistance. An eligible child is:

  • A child was previously looked after
  • A child who is currently at risk of becoming looked-after

How are kinship allowances calculated?

Not all kinship carers will be eligible to receive the weekly allowance. The calculation process applied is the same in all cases.

North Ayrshire Council pays a higher rate than the Scottish Recommended Allowances for foster carers and kinship carers. Kinship care payments are made weekly and are determined by the age of the child.

There are four age bands:

  • 0 to 4 years: £200
  • 5 to 10 years: £200
  • 11 to 15 years: £200
  • 16 years and above: £268.41

Kinship carers may also qualify for Universal Credit/Child Tax Credit and Child Benefits. As such, the Kinship Care Allowance will be calculated by deducting the Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit entitlement from the corresponding allowance.

Kinship allowance will end when the child is no longer in the kinship care placement or where they reach the age of 18 (unless they meet the criteria for Continuing Care).

Advice on kinship care

The Kinship Care Advice Service for Scotland (KCASS) provides free, confidential and impartial advice to:

  • kinship families
  • professionals working with kinship families

To find out more:

Other resources

The following resources may also be helpful:

  • The Real Toolkit has guides about the transition into continuing care or leaving care
  • Scottish Government has information on the national support, advice and information available

Contact us

To find out how we can help, please get in touch.