What is kinship care?
Kinship care is any situation in which a child is being raised in the care of a friend or family member who is not their parent.
This covers a whole spectrum of care arrangements, ranging from informal and private fostering to those with legal orders such as Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) and Care Arrangement Orders (CAOs).
Please note, the local authority must be notified about children living in private fostering arrangements for more than 28 days. More information can be found in our private fostering leaflet.
Further information about the different types of kinship arrangements, including who holds parental responsibility and what kinship carers can/cannot do, can be found here: Championing kinship care: the national kinship care strategy (publishing.service.gov.uk) (PDF) – page 43.